


Laws of Motion

by DenDenMonMon



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Exploration of sexuality, F/F, Kasha and Tempest are Hitchcock and Scully, Kennedy sleeps a lot, Lesbian Anal Sex, Strap-Ons, a one night stand that goes terribly wrong, detox has had it - officially, i'm sorry mom, more like a bunch of small fires everywhere, not exactly a slow burn, or incredibly right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2020-09-02 13:45:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 51,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20276863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DenDenMonMon/pseuds/DenDenMonMon
Summary: “Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it.”





	1. Pink.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. Hello. How are you? Welcome to another crazy idea that came to my mind and have no clue where it’s gonna take us! Wooh!  
Usually I’m not a big fan of crude smut thrown at you right from the start, yet, here we are haha so, if that’s not your cup of tea, you can just skip that part once you reach it, there’s no other impact on the story other than it happened.  
Hope you enjoy the ride. Thanks for reading!  
-Monkey

**Chapter 1 - Pink**

The music was loud.

More than hear it, Katya could feel it.

She could feel the waves of sound pulsing all through her body. She could feel her blood running through her veins to the rhythm of the unfamiliar song. Her eyes were closed as her ears filled with the blaring noises of the club, clashing and mixing together. Her arms were up in the air as she allowed her mind to go blank. Her body responded to the movements dictated both by the music and the hands of the stranger holding her hips.

She could feel the man’s fingers digging into her flesh, but she didn’t mind. She could feel his semi-erection against her ass, but she didn’t care. She liked it. She liked the fact that she was utilizing him. Right in that moment, he was nothing but an object to her. He might as well be a wall she was slamming her body against while dancing, he had as much importance. His reaction to the way her body moved was all she was looking for. She liked that power. Taking advantage of that power, of the symbolic grip she had on the guy, she turned around in his arms. Her hips pressed hard against his. She could feel him through her tight skirt. If there hadn’t been clothes between them, they could very easily be fucking already.

She knew that.

He knew that.

His stare told her as much.

That was the only reason why she turned around and walked away. He called after her but she didn’t listen. One of her hands went up in the air, dismissing him completely. He really had nothing else to offer her.

She made her way through the crowd. The dance floor was completely packed and she loved to feel the pressure of hot bodies against her own, even if it was just for a second. The only problem was, it was too hot and she was sweating. She needed a break.

With a little bit of trouble she managed to step away from the moving bodies, and went to find her friends. They were all drinking and dancing in the little private area. That particular booth was permanently reserved for them. That was the type of privilege they got for being regulars at the club. The seats of the small round tables were not always filled, but that night was a special occasion.

“That was quick. Did you fuck him already?” Violet swung her long ponytail from one shoulder to the other. Her dark hair shone with the fluorescent lights blinking behind her.

Katya laughed at her assumptions, her head shaking in disbelief. “You are rotted!” And that was all the attention she dedicated to the matter.

She went around the circle, pretending to give lap dances to those sitting down, and watched them get shit-faced as she sipped from her tall glass of Coke. She felt happy, she felt alive, she felt completed. There were no visible cares in the world. All the people that mattered to her the most were right there, in that stinky booth, having fun and enjoying themselves. If only things could stay like that forever, or at least for a little bit longer, but they couldn’t. Because time waited for no man, nor woman, and life went on, leaving behind whoever wasn’t ready to catch up.

Suddenly, she noticed the bucket in the center getting empty, when it had been filled to the rim with beer bottles not so long ago. Placing her fingers between her lips, she whistled in the direction of the bar.

Her eyes caught a girl sitting alone on one of the stools. Her hair was blonde, flat-ironed, and parted in the middle. It went all the way down to her waist, creating a remarkable contrast against the bright pink dress she was wearing. Her shoulders went up and down at an erratic pace, not really following the beat of the song.

The bartender whistling back took Katya out of her trance. She shook the empty bucket, the remaining ice cubes rattling inside. No other explanation was needed and the bartender sent a waiter her way, to retrieve the bucket to be filled again.

Her eyes were glued to the girl during this entire time. She watched her fingers rapidly tap against her phone, probably sending text messages that she was going to regret in the morning. Her head hung low. She was most likely crying. Her long fingers wrapped around the neck of a beer bottle, and she seemed to down it all in one swing. Katya had to guess it hadn’t been completely full; the girl didn’t look like the type that could drink an entire bottle of beer at once.

A waiter finally approached her, new round of beers in his hand, making her stop her observations. For the time being, she forgot about the girl drinking alone at the bar, and she concentrated her attention on making sure everybody had a drink in their hands.

It wasn’t necessary, but she couldn’t miss the chance. She drank the last bit of her soda and made her way through the crowd again.

“Hey, Bob!” Katya approached the bar, the empty glass high in the air. “Oops, sorry. I touched you.” She apologized when she felt her arm bump against the person on the tall stool. The girl simply looked away, hiding her face behind the curtain of straight hair. “Another one, please and thank you.”

Bob took the glass from her hand and reached for a new can of Coca-Cola. “Coming right up!”

The process was simple, but took the bartender enough to give Katya time to analyze the blonde girl. She still wouldn’t look in Katya’s direction, which gave her the freedom to shamelessly scan her up and down. She was cute. Really cute.

Bob finally gave her the long glass back, filled with ice cubes and bubbling soda.

“You are the best.” She flashed her biggest smile his direction. “Put it on my tab, and, please, give Depressed Malibu Barbie over here a double of whatever she’s drinking,” she said as she turned around to leave.

She heard a loud _‘I’m not…’_ coming from the girl but Bob quickly cut her off.

“Just take the drink.”

Without looking at them again, Katya made it back to her friends. She stepped on the cushions of the booth, holding on to someone’s shoulder for balance.

“Hi, yes, hello. May I please have your attention, you dirty whores?”

Everyone around her stopped what they were doing. They turned to look at her with amusement on their faces. Nobody knew what to expect, but were perfectly aware that there was not one time that Katya didn’t make them laugh with her speeches.

“Thank you, thank you. As you know, Miss Ginger Minj over here, AKA female Danny DeVito, AKA Tony Soprano, AKA...” She had to stop mid-sentence, laughing hysterically at her own words as everybody else chuckled slightly. “AKA my best friend and partner, decided to abandon us all and get an early retirement.”

She exaggerated a face of disappointment, only as a cover-up for the real sadness that had invaded her for months. Ginger had recently gotten married, and she was the happiest she had been in her entire life. It didn’t surprise anybody when she let them know she was leaving, wanting to dedicate her entire attention to her husband and the new life they were about to start.

“You will be greatly missed,” Katya continued with put-on solemnity. “Luckily, your BO will linger around the halls forever.” There was one more pause as she recovered from her own joke, before she actually turned serious. “Come on, now, raise your glasses and join me in the celebration of the one and only, the multitalented, the incomparable, the often imitated but never duplicated, Ginger Minj! May her smoker’s breath continue to infest every room she ever walks into, may her big juicy ass only grow bigger and juicier, and may that new husband of hers fuck her so hard every night that she can never walk straight again.”

There was a round of laughter as her friends lifted their drinks to her words.

“To Ginger!” She ended loudly, making the people around her to repeat in unison. The words were followed by the sound of bottles and glasses clinking with each other.

She got down and hugged her friend. The smile was still on her face when she turned around in the direction of the bar again. The mysterious girl was looking at her, or at them, probably their toasting had called her attention. Katya wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she was intrigued by the girl, hiding behind the heavy layers of makeup that made it impossible to even look at her eyes.

Katya would later learn that her name was Trixie, that her heart had just been broken, and that she tasted sweeter than any other girl that had ever ridden her face. For the time being, she was reduced to a sad woman, drinking alone at the bar, wearing a pink dress and too much makeup.

It was very unusual of Trixie to be doing so, she had to admit as much to herself, but the circumstances called for it. The rough and sudden shift in her perfect little life didn’t seem to have any other solution but to drown it in alcohol.

She had been there before. She had been hurt by a man before, but never like this. This time it felt different. She wasn’t even sure why she had such strong feelings about it. Things had been good, but there was no reason for her to be destroyed about the end of her relationship.

Her finger unlocked the phone, even when it didn’t show any new notifications. She went to the messaging app and opened a specific conversation. It could barely be called that, if she was being honest. Nothing but blue bubbles appeared on her screen, filling up the right hand side of the unilateral discussion. The smiley emoji wearing a cowboy hat, followed by pink hearts and sparkles, at the top of the screen, suddenly made her feel sick.

Drunk texting was never a good idea, she knew as much, she was smart enough to know that. The pressure in her chest, the pain in her soul, and the alcohol running through her veins, gave her enough courage to type yet another message.

_Thank you for teaching me what true love ISN’T._

She backspaced the entire thing, deleting the message and starting over.

_You just made me realize how much I don’t need you._

That was a lie. She did need him. She did miss him. Or at least she missed how it felt to be loved by someone; but that was a feeling that had been gone for some time now. They had lived miles and miles and hours apart, but they had been able to make it work. She would visit him every other weekend, and he would take a trip down to meet her whenever he was available. Through many phone and FaceTime calls is that they had made it possible to stay together even when being apart. Trixie had to wonder if that was the reason why they lasted so long, because they didn’t really see each other. If she had to put together all the days they actually spent together in the course of so many years, they wouldn’t sum up to more than a few months.

With a heavy sigh, she pushed the button to lock her phone again.

No message was sent.

She looked around instead, noticing for the first time how loud the music was. She had been immersed in her own pathetic little world that she had taken no regard on the people partying behind her.

The spinning of the stool was enough to make her dizzy, she decided to sit still, like she had been doing the whole night, and asked for another beer.

The tall man behind the counter, Bob, looked at her with a side grin. “Girl, don’t get me wrong. I’m from New York. I’m all about getting plastered and then riding the train home at the same time that people are going to work.” He laughed at his own words, taking the empty bottle from her hand. “Are you sure about that drink?”

“Oh, my God! I’m so glad you asked!” Trixie’s sarcasm was not missed by the bartender who laughed wholeheartedly. “Yes, I’m sure about that fucking drink.”

The beer was placed in front of her, then a bottle of water landed right next to it. “Meet me halfway?” The guy asked with the same shit-eatting grin.

Trixie rolled her eyes, but took the cap off of the water bottle anyways. “I’d really appreciate it if you stayed away from my business. Thank you.”

He lifted his hands in surrender and moved along to serve other customers. No other words were said. For a moment, Trixie was sad the interaction was over. She had finally been given a distraction from her own destructive thoughts and she had pushed it away. All she could do now was watch the bald man as he laughed and handed out glasses filled with liquor. Trixie wondered if he was giving them a hard time as well, if he was always protective of his customers or if he had felt pity for her. She was drinking alone, and visibly crying, after all.

That had to stop immediately.

She drank the entire water bottle at once, not really realizing how much her body needed it until the first drops touched her tongue, and stood up. With the phone in her hand, she made her way to the bathroom. Walking was a struggle, and her high heels were not helping. Maybe she was, indeed, drunk.

She entered the last stall of the row. Her body felt heavy as she sat on the toilet. Her elbows landed on her knees and she let her head drop to her hands.

As Trixie was receiving the epiphany that she needed while peeing, on the other side of the club Katya felt claustrophobic. There were too many people in the small space with the extremely low roof. The room felt hot and air was not circulating enough. Ironically, she knew that the thing she needed to be able to breathe at peace again was a cigarette.

She stepped outside and the warm breeze hit her face. It was as much as she could ask for a LA night and she took it gladly. Up until that moment she hadn’t realized just how sweaty she was. The belt around her waist was too tight, making it even harder for her to breathe normally. She liked her top, and was grateful for picking something see-through. It allowed air to flow and her tattoos to show, but the feeling of mech against her arms and torso was itchy. She could feel every piece of clothing sticking to her skin. It wasn’t a nice feeling but it was one that she was rather used to.

The calming effects of the nicotine worked wonders right away. She could feel her lungs expanding as they filled with smoke. Her thoughts immediately stopped racing and a sense of utter peace enveloped her whole.

She kicked pebbles with the tip of her shoe. One arm was wrapped around her waist, the other one finding support on it to place the cigarette to her lips. Everything around her was quiet. And she liked it that way. She could see the cars driving on the street, their lights bright enough to reach her all the way at the end of the alley.

Her peaceful moment was disrupted by the back door of the club opening roughly. The girl from the bar walked out, her steps stomping hard against the pavement as she walked with alcohol induced confidence.

“That’s right,” she said to the phone glued to her ear. “I am walking to the dumpster right now. I am taking the key out of my purse,” she narrated her every move. “If you don’t say anything right now I will throw it in there, and you will never see me again.” There was a pause, which clearly didn’t give her the answer that she was looking for. “Fine. It’s done. Bye, see you never,” she assured as the small piece of metal landed on trash bags with a small thud. “I guess you don’t love me after all.”

Forcefully, she pressed the red button to end the phone call. She turned around and spotted Katya for the first time.

“Ex-boyfriend?” Katya asked, respectfully blowing smoke in the opposite direction.

Trixie nodded her head. “Ex-boyfriend’s voicemail, to be exact.”

Katya smiled, throwing the butt of the cigarette on the ground and stepping on it. “You are too hot for him anyways.”

Her eyes grew wide open in surprise. “How do you know that? You don’t know him, or me.”

“But I have eyes, and I can see you are hot, Barbie doll.”

“Trixie, my name is Trixie.”

“Nice to meet you, Trixie. Say, do you feel like dancing the depression away?”

The girl extended her hand and Trixie took it, allowing the total stranger to pull her back inside. She didn’t realize, but Trixie never got the girl’s name. It didn’t seem to matter then, not when their bodies grinded together and the music did all the talking. The name was going to be a big deal in a few hours, though, when Trixie’s orgasm was going to rip her to pieces and she was not going to know which name to scream in delight. Right that instant, however, it was irrelevant.

Trixie allowed Katya to press her body against hers, to let the song that was playing loudly from the speakers to provide the necessary words to fill up the space around them. It felt good. It felt nice to have soft skin brushing against her own. It felt electrifying when nails dug on her flesh. It felt hot when the perfectly round ass rubbed against her crotch.

Hot.

It was hot, both the room and their dance. Katya was a complete mystery and an enigma. She would whisper silly nothings into her ear, making Trixie laugh with joy, and, at the same time, use her body to set Trixie’s on fire. She had never felt like this before, so free, so careless, so turned on. Trixie knew her heart was still torn into a million pieces, but the thin girl exploring her body with her hands, was melting her in such a way that the broken parts seemed to glue themselves back together.

Everything around her was spinning, and Trixie didn’t seem to find another anchor that it wasn’t Katya’s body crashing against her own. She became the gravity center that she needed. And the pull was so strong that Trixie couldn’t help it when she suddenly found herself pressing her lips against the other woman’s. This was something completely new to her, but the feeling was so amazing that she didn’t want to deprive herself from it.

Katya smiled for a moment, moving her lips to Trixie’s ear. “You are drunk, bitch.”

The new position only allowed Trixie to plant a kiss on Katya’s neck, never stopping the swaying of their bodies. “So are you, so what’s the problem?” she said against her skin. She simply couldn’t stop herself. She wanted– she needed more of her. “Wanna get out of here?”

Katya pushed her away, just enough to look her in the eye. “Are you sure? You may regret this in the morning.”

“Are you really that bad in bed?”

Both looked at each other for a moment, before erupting in uncontrollable laughter. Katya was the first one to recover her voice. “I’ll grab my stuff.”

“I’ll get us an Uber.”

The car drive was made in silence. Katya had enough conscience to leave some space between them in the backseat. Trixie had been drinking, a lot. Katya wanted to give her that time to sober up and think if that was really what she wanted. Trixie seemed to be doing just that. Katya observed her from the far end of the seat, kept a close eye in the way she looked out the window, the city lights making the glitters on her face shine bright. It was a beautiful sight of a beautiful girl.

Trixie was completely aware of Katya’s eyes on her. She liked that feeling. Something in the bottom of her stomach had been set on fire, and the heat spread all the way down to her most private area, making her throb with desire she had never felt before. It was new and interesting and she couldn’t wait to explore the feeling some more.

She turned around abruptly, expecting Katya to look away and pretend she wasn’t watching her, but she didn’t.

“Are you one hundred percent sure you wanna do this?”

If there was any trace of doubt in Trixie’s mind, the sincerity in Katya’s eyes made it fly out the window. “Are you kidding me? Yes, of course I am.”

They both held their stares for a moment too long until Trixie extended her hand, taking Katya’s and interwinding their fingers. Still holding hands, they walked inside the apartment building. It wasn’t until they were inside the elevator that Katya even tried to make a move.

“Come here, Mamma.”

Trixie did as she was told. With a side smile on her face, she moved to stand right in front of Katya, towering her. Each of her hands flanked Katya’s head as she leaned forward, pressing her lips softly against hers. It wasn’t a kiss, not really, it was a tentative move, almost as if they were testing the feeling under these new circumstances. There was no loud music or sweaty people dancing around them. There was nobody but them in that small metallic box, space that kept feeling smaller and smaller the longer they kissed. Because the elevator was not big enough to contain the immense waves of desire that washed over them like tsunami tides.

The door slid open with a ding, revealing their own image reflecting on the mirror across from them. They looked a hot mess. Katya stared at herself, at the mascara creating dark circles under her eyes, where it mixed with the liner that had already ran. Her hair was gone beyond the point of no return.

If she had gotten into this state, just by dancing, she couldn’t imagine how she was going to look like walking out of that apartment, all fucked out by the real size Barbie doll dragging her through the narrow hallway.

They stopped by the door with the letter F on the front. Trixie pulled her closer, her lips once again meeting Katya’s as her hand fished the key in her purse. Doing both things at the same time proved to be too difficult for her, but she didn’t stop either. She allowed her mouth to continue devouring Katya’s as she pushed the key into the knob. Her tongue was running against each of Katya’s teeth when the front door closed with a bang.

“You need to take off your shoes,” Trixie informed her between kisses. She turned around and found stability on the wall in front of her, trying to kick off her high heels.

That was when she felt Katya’s hands on her ass. “I think you need to take off your panties.”

What happened next, Trixie felt in slow motion. Her eyes closed when her dress had been moved up. Katya’s finger hooked on the sides of her underwear and she pulled it down her legs. Trixie’s hands were planted on the wall, holding on for dear life, when she first felt Katya’s tongue against her center. Her legs spread by themselves, giving Katya more access. Her back arched, as she forcefully pushed herself against Katya’s mouth. She pressed her front hard against the wall, just because her upper half needed some attention as well.

Nobody had ever eaten her out like that.

Nobody had made her legs feel like rubber with simple touches like that.

Nobody had brought her so near an orgasm within the first few seconds like that .

She could have been softly moaning, she could have been screaming loudly, she didn’t care. Except that, when a particularly loud moan escaped her lips, suddenly something came to mind.

“Oh, my God. Kim!”

Katya smiled against her thigh, kissing it softly, and speaking against her skin. “Oh, so you wanna role play?”

“No, you stupid.” Trixie stood up straight, reluctantly moving away from her spot, away from Katya’s hot lips. “Kim is my roommate. I don’t know if she’s ho–” She couldn’t even finish her sentence when she fully looked at Katya, kneeled down right next to the front door, mouth and chin wet, both with saliva and what Trixie could only imagine was her own arousal. She bit her lower lip, her want increasing by the second. “You are so hot.”

Katya took Trixie’s extended hand and allowed her to pull her up. Katya let her take the lead as Trixie kissed her roughly one more time, forcing her to walk backwards and guiding her towards the bedroom. Their lips never parted until they reached the last door at the end of the small apartment.

Trixie walked inside and turned on the light on the bedside table. Suddenly they were surrounded by nothing but pink. The shade on the lamp was bright pink, bright enough to almost drown the different shades of the same color around the room. The pillows, the sheets, the comforter, and even the picture frames on the wall, were all pink.

Her observations stopped once Trixie entered her space again. “I want you so bad,” she whispered so low it barely reached Katya’s ear. But she heard it, and she took the invitation happily.

She reached down and took a hold of the hem of Trixie’s dress, pulling it up and above her head. With deft fingers she found the hooks of her bra and Trixie put her arms down so it could slide off of her. There she stood, one of the most amazingly beautiful girls she had ever seen before in all her naked glory. Her breasts were full, and her small waist provided the perfect contrast for her fleshy hips. She pushed Trixie on the bed, making her land softly against the mattress.

Without even thinking about it, she knelt down between her opened legs again. She could tell Trixie was not expecting to have sex that night, which turned Katya on even more. She ran her fingers through the slightly uneven pubic hair until she found her entrance. The first finger entered with ease, making Trixie’s hips buckle up to the touch. Katya moved it around in circles, preparing the girl for the second one, which she took without a problem. When the third finger found its rightful place inside of Trixie, Katya made sure her mouth paid attention to the delicate bundle of nerves as well.

Katya fucked her with her fingers and her mouth for what felt like an eternity. The scream-like moans falling out of Trixie’s lips were enough to make her feel close to the edge herself.

Just when she felt Trixie’s walls clenching around her fingers, everything stopped. Trixie pushed herself up, propping herself on her elbows. “Can I sit on your face?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Katya replied with a smile.

She stood up, removing her belt in the way. Her top found the floor right after, and Trixie helped her unzip her skirt and toss it to the side.

It was now her turn to lay her back on the mattress. Trixie’s thighs flanked her head and she couldn’t wait to have her again. She stretched her neck and gave her a quick lick. Trixie giggled and held onto the headboard, asking her to wait until she was ready. Katya couldn’t. She reached up and caressed Trixie’s breasts as her tongue entered her over and over. The mixture of sensations had Trixie reaching her orgasm almost immediately. Trixie’s legs gave out and she literally sat on Katya’s face, her thighs sending her to a blissful state of suffocation. Even that wasn’t enough to stop Katya, she continued licking her, sending electroshocks through her already sensitive body.

“I want to taste you,” Trixie said after a few seconds, her body was still recovering from the earth-shattering orgasm.

Katya didn’t protest. She saw how the girl started a trail of kisses down her body, dedicating extra time to her breasts. Nobody had to tell her, Katya knew Trixie had never been with another woman before, she could tell by the way she bit on her nipples, the way she unskillfully sucked on them. That was the reason why she paid close attention when Trixie’s face got lost between her legs. She wanted to see her reaction, which was just how she expected.

“You know, you don’t have to do it if you don’t like it,” Katya said with a reassuring smile.

Trixie’s face relaxed from its contorted state. “No, I do want to.”

No other word was spoken. Katya closed her eyes to the feeling of wet tongue and hot lips. Turned out the girl was pretty good at it. Her tongue went up and down and around, in patterns of a few seconds that already had Katya losing her mind. Her hands took a hold of Trixie’s hair, trying to find anything that could ground her to her Earthly surroundings. She truly felt as if she could touch the sky in that mere instant. It only took one hard suck from Trixie on her most sensitive spot to have Katya screaming out her name. Her hands pressing Trixie’s face against her core so she wouldn’t move from her spot.

As soon as she relaxed, Trixie moved up to lie down next to her. She wrapped an arm and a leg around her, and Katya had no energy to move her away.

“Will you stay the night?” Trixie asked, kissing her shoulder. Her eyes already closed from exhaustion.

Katya didn’t reply, because she couldn’t. She couldn’t stay the night. She waited until Trixie fell asleep to extract herself from her embrace. Katya found her clothes scattered around the floor and turned off the small lamp. Walking out of the room, she got dressed by the front entrance. When she put on her shoes, she spotted the pink thong she had rolled down Trixie’s legs and picked it up. She stuffed it in the pocket of her jacket as she exited the apartment, closing the door behind her as quietly as she could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, and giving this crazy story a chance.  
You seriously have no idea all things I have planned for you. Expect the unexpected.  
As always, would love to hear what you think.


	2. Red.

**Chapter 2 - Red.**

“Will you fuck off? But, like, all the way off?” 

Trixie’s head snapped up to the sound of the familiar laughter following those words. She heard it for the first time two nights prior, and it hadn’t left her mind throughout the weekend. There were many things that were imprinted into her brain that Friday night; a pair of tattooed arms, a set of hot lips, a wet tongue, but, most importantly, a wheezing laughter.

As she had expected, the girl she took home from the club walked into the bullpen, disposable coffee cup in hand, and the woman she was hugging the other night right by her side.

“But think about it,” the redhead said, mouthfuls of muffin interrupting her speech. “It makes so much sense. Unless you are doing it naked, you are never really done with laundry.”

The blonde doubled over in laughter, her unnaturally bright teeth at full display. Her red shirt had just the right amount of buttons opened to show her breasts as she tried to control her breathing. Trixie didn’t even notice how she was biting her own bottom lip to the sight of the cleavage. She was too busy absorbing every move of the beautiful woman to realize what her own body was doing. Memories of what it had been like to have those smiling lips kissing her all over cluttered her mind; until she was burst out of her bubble by her new boss.

“Trixie, you can come in now.”

Katya’s laughter stopped at once. That name was rather uncommon, she had only heard it once before in her life. The odds of the life size Barbie doll, that she had fucked a few days before, being there in the same precinct, were slim to none. Yet, there she was. The girl from the bar was walking inside the office across the room as Captain Charles closed the door behind them.

She could still see them through the window. She could see how Captain Charles calmly moved his lips, clearly explaining something in his very professional way; but then he started laughing out loud. His bald head was thrown forward, dangerously close to the desk in front of him, and his glasses caught the reflection of the light above them. Seeing him laugh like that had a feeling invading Katya that she couldn’t really decipher. She was not sure if it was the fact that she had made it her mission to make the captain laugh at least once a day since years ago, or the fact that she hadn’t been able to fully get to know Trixie’s sense of humor. She only got the Depressed Malibu Barbie version, after all. Instead of dwelling on the feeling, she decided to go back to work. Filing reports took forever but she had to do it at some point.

Trixie was not sure how long she spent in the boss’ office but, when she walked out, she couldn’t help but feel pleased with herself. All the paperwork needed for her transfer was taken care of, the results of her many exams had been reviewed, and RuPaul Charles, the eminence himself, had congratulated her for such amazing work. He then walked her to the adjacent room, promising a proper presentation to the squad at the midmorning briefing, which was about to start.

She walked behind him, entering the already filled room, feeling like the new kid in school. Luckily, there was an empty chair next to the door, and she took it in a swift motion. She sat behind the long table and didn’t even dare to look back, nervous to make eye contact with any of her new coworkers.

The person next to her nudged her slightly. She turned around to see a girl with a big smile, the gesture looked sincere. “Hey, Jush!” She said in a shout. Trixie flinched a little, since everybody else in the room was chatting quietly. “I’m Jasmine.” The short bob bounced around her face as she laughed for no apparent reason. “You are gonna love it here,” she promised. “We always have so much fun.” Once more her laughter sounded loudly but, above that, it sounded welcoming. “What’s your name, Jush?”

“Guys, gather ‘round.” The voice of the captain interrupted them. Everybody went quiet and all eyes were set to the front. “Welcome to one more day in the job. It’s not an easy task, but the streets of Los Angeles are a much safer place because of you guys, so… thank you.” 

He spoke with such an ease, his few sentences were delivered in a way that made Trixie believe that their job actually meant something bigger, something much more important than just cliché paperwork. She listened to the tall man, dressed in a colorful suit, as he kept reminding them just how valuable they were for the city, for him, and for each other.

“Now, remember, this town deserves nothing but the very best, that’s why, even when we are sad to see one of our brightest detectives go…” His hand pointed somewhere at the back of the room. “That also means that we are welcoming a new member of our family. Please, give a warm welcome to Detective Trixie Mattel! Come on up, darling.”

With dull claps heard from behind her, Trixie got up, walked the short distance, and stood next to the head of the squad. In a lame afterthought, she waved her hand slowly, as a pageant girl would do to the panel of judges.

Capt. Charles laughed at the action before continuing. “Detective Mattel comes from a precinct not far from here, and will take Ginger’s place as Katya’s new partner.”

Trixie’s eyes widened when she realized exactly who that was. The odds of the mysterious foreign girl, that she had fucked a few days before, being her new partner, were slim to none. Yet, there she was.

She must have done something extremely horrible in her previous life to deserve this, because there was no other valid reason for her luck to be so shitty. She always did things right, followed the rules, and went by the book. Yet, life had a thing for her. She just wanted to catch a break, a change of air. That was the reason why she had applied for the transfer. As much as she liked her previous precinct, it had started to become too small for her. She needed more, she needed something bigger. And she had gotten it.

That Friday night was supposed to be a celebration for her accomplishments, but her friends had bailed on her, her boyfriend had decided to end things, and she had slept with a woman for the first time in her life. 

In that moment, she wished to come back to her old life, the one she had been fed up with the week before and now longed for. She wanted to get to work where nothing really happened, help kids find their bikes, and file reports about loaves of bread being stolen from the neighborhood’s grocery store. At some point it had been monotonous, it had been lineal, it had been boring. And one night had changed it all. Her entire world had been turned upside down, and not in the way she had expected. She spent her weekend crying, yearning for what she had lost, and craving for something that had been hers only for a couple of hours but felt like a part of her already. 

When Kim asked her if she was still crying over her boyfriend, Trixie lied and said yes. Her roommate found it strange, since they weren’t particularly head over heels for each other, but didn’t ask any further. The answer made enough sense to pass as a half true. The reality was completely different. Those two days had been flooded with images of red lips and red nails, trailing her body and melting her to the bone. Her ears could hear nothing but soft moans and sensual whispers of Russian words.

She had dreams about her. Sometimes Trixie would catch herself daydreaming, other times the blonde woman found her way into her subconscious as she slept. The scenarios were endless. They would run into each other early in the morning, impatiently waiting in line for their first taste of coffee of the day. Trixie pictured them back at the club where they met, she would sit at the same stool and the woman would reach the bar and request a drink. It didn’t matter where it started, the fantasy always ended back in her room, with the air filled with panting and screams of utter pleasure. Reality would also find the same recurrent outlet, which involved her own hand inside her underwear.

Trixie never in her life had doubted her sexuality, she was straight. She liked men, a lot. She liked how they were simple creatures, with needs she could easily fulfill. Her type was very clear. The men she dated were slightly unkempt, they had beards and hairy backs. Her sexual compass had no apparent motive to be directed to the soft touch, the delicate pale skin, the long blonde hair of a random woman she had met at a club.

That same woman was now in front of her, fully aware of the discomfort she was causing her. There was no way Trixie could look at anything that wasn’t her. The color that had been haunting her dreams for two nights in a row, shone bright from across the room.

The girl in the red shirt bit her lip, trying to stop a smile from taking over her face unsuccessfully. “Oh, I get the pretty one. Sorry, Minj, I don’t know you anymore.” The girl stood up, bowing her head slightly. “My name is Yekaterina Pretovna Zamolodchikova, but you can call me… Katya,” she said in a rush, heavy tints of her accent lacing her speech. “And it’s going to be, oh, such a pleasure to have you as my partner.” The side smile didn’t go unnoticed by Trixie.

Her body weight shifted from one leg to the other, finally linking the face with the name she wished she had been able to scream as she came.

“You know,” Captain Charles spoke directly to Trixie. “Detective Zamo has the highest number of arrests in the precinct and, as far as I know, you had the highest in yours, didn’t you?”

Before she could even reply, Katya spoke again. “Oh, you are on, bitch!”

“We are on the same team,” Trixie reminded her, her hands going up in the air with disbelief, and making the room burst out laughing.

The captain smiled widely. “Ah, I can already tell you are going to make a fabulous team. Trixie, welcome to the family, and we take that term very seriously around here, it’s something that we don’t take for granted. From this moment on, you belong to a family of badass bitches!” That alone elicited a round of cheers and applause. He waited a moment before motioning for everyone to be quiet again. “Okay, I’m gonna let Sergeant Haylock to take over now.” He moved towards the door, and stopped right before exiting the room. “Oh, just one more thing… don’t fuck it up!”

And with that he was gone.

Trixie started to believe that what Jasmine told her was right. She could sense the light atmosphere of the place already creeping into her as she walked back to her seat. Sure, there was the crippling fear of facing her _new partner_, but everybody else seemed nice. She loved how nobody seemed afraid of cursing, not even The Boss, because her big mouth had gotten her in more than a few problems in her previous workplace. She could only hope that this sudden change of scenery actually meant a good thing for her, that all the rough changes thrown at her, out of nowhere, had come for a reason.

“Alright, you useless cunts!” The raspy voice, a complete contrast from the soothing tone of Captain Charles, brought her out of the conjuring of her possible future. “One of the bastards you failed to catch is out at it... again!” The sergeant placed his forearms on the little podium for support. “This one’s on you, Zamo.”

He pressed a few buttons on a remote control while Katya protested. Trixie took the cap off her loyal pink pen and pressed it against the glittery notebook, writing down the date at the top right corner. If the sergeant had addressed the case as Katya’s, it meant it was now hers as well.

When she looked up, the screen behind the man had illuminated, and the images that it was showing were disturbing to say the least.

“Oh, my God. The Puppeteer!” Katya said with something that sounded a lot like excitement. “He’s back!”

Trixie had to look at the screen with side eyes.

How could Katya be so ecstatic about the gruesome death of a young woman?

It looked like the girl had been sitting at her dining table; a kitchen could be seen at the back of the picture. She had her arms bent in the air, pulled up by strings attached to her hands, elbows and shoulders. Trixie right away understood the nickname given to the killer. The beautiful brunette, that couldn’t have been more than twenty years old, had her makeup done to resemble a marionette. Even though her head hung low, her eyes were opened, permanently staring blankly to the middle of nowhere. A pool of blood surrounded her feet, it was so big that it even went underneath the table. There were no apparent exit wounds, so there was no clear source for all the blood, but the amount seemed enough to determine the girl had bled to death right there on the spot.

Trixie wrote all her observations down, and made mental notes about things that needed to be clarified. For example, the picture didn’t cover the ceiling, and she needed to know where the wires were hanging from.

And all of these observations, she made them in less than a second, her trained eye was always ready to catch the smallest of details.

“Yes, it’s your damn puppeteer,” Sergeant Haylock repeated after Katya. “Care to fill us in on the case?”

Katya stood up happily. “Oh, yes, Gawd,” she agreed with a loud click of her tongue.

This was a case she had been working on for a year. Katya was sure she knew the man behind the attacks better than she knew herself. The only problem was, she couldn’t find him. It was the only unsolved case she had ever had. It had nagged at the back of her head for months, then the killings had stopped and she hit a dead end. Until now.

She reached the podium and right away called everybody’s attention. No words had left her mouth yet, but the shift in the room was evident. The vibe wasn’t solemn and inspirational, nor was it crude and sarcastic, like there had been with the men that came before her. People paid attention, took notes, respected what she had to say.

“Okay, listen up. This man is a psycho, a freak, and not the fun type that I like. He gets off by killing pretty looking girls, painting them, and hooking strings to their limbs. So far he had only attacked sex workers. Girls with no family, with nobody to file a missing person report, with hooker friends who are too scared to even talk to the police. His M.O. has been the same for months. Roy?”

She looked at the sergeant who simply nodded his head, confirming it hadn’t changed.

“This a dangerous, sick man who does not belong in the streets.” She made a dramatic pause, allowing her words to sink in. “The Minj and I will give you all the info that we have so you can keep your eyes and ears open. We can use all the help that we can get.”

The clear of a throat made her look to the back of the room. “Don’t you mean Mattel?” Ginger corrected her. “Today is my last day, darling.”

Katya quickly looked at Trixie. Her new partner. The girl was hanging to her every word. The pen in her hand had been writing non stop since Katya started her speech. The corner of her eye had registered that, even when her conscious self had deliberately ignored her. It was too much to take, she reasoned with herself. The girl was way too pretty and it was better to advert her attention from the voluptuous body. The formal wear seemed to hug her magnificent figure. She wondered if Trixie felt uncomfortable in the tight clothes. Katya did in her own, but she was nothing but skin, muscles and bones, unlike Trixie, who was all curves and flesh and just the right amount of fat settled in all the right places.

“Right.” She shook herself out of her dangerously sexy observations. “Right, right. You are right. Sorry. Tri… Detective Mattel and I will send you the profile later this afternoon.”

Instructions were given for the day, patrols assigned, cases were reviewed, and the meeting was over. 

Trixie stood up, ready to leave, when Jasmine grabbed her by the arm. “Come on, Trix. I’ll show you around.”

Jasmine did just that. Never letting go of her arm, the lean woman dragged her around the place, showing her pretty much every room on every floor. After letting her know about the _good bathrooms_, they reached the interrogation rooms. Jasmine made a specific point about Katya preferring the last one on the left, since the air conditioner hit differently in that room, and how she constantly suffered from the heat. Jasmine said it with a laugh, as if it were a joke, but Trixie was trying to gather as much information as she could about her new partner. 

In the course of half an hour, they had seen the most important parts of the building, or at least the ones Trixie was going to need. She had also heard more names that she was going to be able to recall, that was for sure. It was going to take some time but she was going to adapt, she had to. There was no other option.

They reached the bullpen again and Trixie was shown to her desk. It felt weird to sit behind it, Ginger’s stuff were still occupying the space. It didn’t feel like hers yet, but it was going to be. 

She looked around the place, her new home. If things were any similar to her previous precinct, she was going to spend more time here, swamped with paperwork, than her actual apartment. 

Her eyes immediately found Katya, chatting in the break room. Trixie didn’t miss the chance, she needed to talk to her before all the formalities were set into play. They had a lot of work to do and it was better to get everything out in the open. When she reached the door, determined to call her attention, she suddenly froze. Katya sat with her legs thrown over the armrest of a chair, the confined pencil skirt hugging her every curve in the uncomfortable position. A can of Redbull hung from her hand. She talked with such intensity that the girl sitting with her could do nothing but focus her sole attention on her.

“Oh, bitch,” Katya said effusively. “She sent me a good morning text, a fucking good morning text!” She slapped the arm of the girl beside her, emphasizing her words. “It gave me a boner.”

The other girl laughed with her head thrown back. “How would you know? Your dick is probably so small you can’t even find it.”

Katya’s mouth opened in mocked shock. “If you must know, you fucking cunt, even when being hypo– no, _especially_ because it is hypothetical, my ding dong is huge, huge! It even glows in the dark.” She nodded approvingly of her own words.

“Really? And what color is this huge penis of yours?”

She pretended to give it a little bit of thinking, before pointing at the girl with her index finger. “Remind me, what’s the name of your mom’s lipstick again?”

Both girls laughed, and Trixie decided that would be a good time as any to interrupt. She cleared her throat, loud enough to make them look at her.

“Katya, can I talk to you?” This was the first time Trixie actually pronounced the name, and she was extra aware of the way it rolled from her lips, the way it made her tongue hit her front teeth. She liked it.

The girl looked at her, a knowingly smile playing on her lips. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

Trixie nervously looked between Katya and the other girl, who pretended to ignore them, picking at the ends of her hair.

“Alone?”

It took her a moment to react but, once she did, Katya easily swung her legs towards the back of the chair, going all the way around before finding the ground. 

“Please, excuse us, Violet, my dear,” she said with an accent that was probably meant to be British. She then turned to Trixie, addressing her in her regular tone. “Come.”

Trixie moved by her side as they walked in uncomfortable silence. Or at least it felt uncomfortable to her, because Katya seemed pretty chilled. Her fingertips glided against the walls, humming a tune that Trixie had never heard before. Those were halls that she hadn’t seen with Jasmine, so she tried to pay attention to the path they walked, counting the turns they took, trying to get familiar with her surroundings, anything that could distract her from the heat exuding Katya and tickling her own skin. 

Katya suddenly stopped in front of a door, took the door knob in her hand but didn’t twist it. She turned to look at Trixie instead. “Okay, now, you are about to enter my secret place. I shouldn’t even be sharing it with you. Nobody knows that I come here every now and then for… for different reasons, but this is like my safe place, so don’t tell anybody.” Her index finger pointed straight to her face. Trixie couldn’t do anything but promise she wouldn’t.

Once the door opened, shelves filled with boxes were revealed. There was a small table in the middle covered with dust. The place seemed to be untouched. The spiderwebs between the boxes told her nobody had moved them in a long time. The room was large but seemed to reduce in size with so many files spread everywhere. Against the back wall Trixie spotted a folding bed, it had messy sheets on top, as if someone had recently slept there and didn’t bother to make the bed. Next to it, on top of a pile of boxes, there was an ashtray and several candy wrappers. Trixie could see her there, she could very clearly picture Katya breaking her head over a case, not wanting to go home and going to that room instead. She could see her smoking in there, even when she shouldn’t be doing it, and popping candies into her mouth as she tried to connect the clues to make sense.

“This is the cold cases room,” Katya explained. “Nobody really comes here because, you know, the cases are cold. Duh.”

When she didn’t get a response from Trixie, she turned back around to face her. Her eyes were glued to the bedroom-like area she had set for herself a long time ago. She didn’t need to explain, she knew that Trixie understood why her stuff was there. And she wondered if Trixie had a similar place at her old building.

“So you wanted to talk.” Katya’s words came out in the form of a question, reminding Trixie why they were there in the first place.

She directed her stare to Katya again, meeting her eyes probably for the first time in the entire day. “Oh. Yeah, umm…”

“Is this about that night? About you being drunk?” Katya suddenly asked in a rush. The thought had crossed her mind throughout the day. Usually, she didn’t care much about a hookup the next morning but, yet again, she never had to see them again. And Trixie was there, big and expecting eyes looking right at her. “I asked you if you were okay, if you wanted to, and you said yes–”

Trixie lifted her hand to stop her. “No! I wasn’t that drunk. I, umm, it’s not that… not at all.”

“Oh, then what is it? If you are scared that I will tell anybody, you can be sure that’s not going to happen. I promise I won’t tell anybody.” She tried to make things easier for Trixie when she noticed her fumbling with her words, but she was not prepared for what she said next.

“You left.”

The words dropped from her lips with such hurt, with such emotion that they shook Katya to the very core.

“You didn’t really expect me–” Katya tried to reason but was interrupted.

“You said you were gonna stay the night. You promised.”

Katya raised an eyebrow, unsure of where all of that was coming from, or going to. “Well, technically, I didn’t,” she said softly, trying to make her understand. “Trixie, really, it’s no big deal. I get it. It was just sex.”

Her eyes grew wide open in shock, making Katya regret her words as soon as she said them.

“So that was it? That’s all it was for you? Just sex that happened because we had both been drinking?”

“I hadn’t…” Katya stopped herself before finishing her sentence, there was no point in explaining how she hadn’t tasted a drop of alcohol in years, and she surely wasn’t drunk that night. The girl seemed so wrapped up in her own feelings, a state Katya was more than familiar with, that no reasoning was probably going to get through her head. Instead she tried something different. “Look, alright, okay, listen. We don’t have to make this awkward, okay? You have had, umm, one night stands or, like, fuck buddies before, I presume. If you think about it, it doesn’t change things if we don’t want to. I mean, we are working together. We can make it, like, not awkward, right?”

Trixie looked at her for a moment too long, Katya could feel the brown eyes going across her face. Probably trying to read her the same way she was doing. But then Trixie nodded her head, as if reality had finally dawned on her. For a moment, Katya felt relief, she had gotten her point across. Or at least that was what she thought, until an air of determination filled Trixie’s features.

“Right. Okay. Have it your way.”

She turned around and walked away, her high heels resounding loudly through the empty hallways. Katya brought her hands up to her face, an exasperated grunt coming out from the back of her throat.

Then it hit her. She ran to the door, trying to see if she could still catch her. “Hey!” She screamed after her. “You need to help me get the boxes with the case!” She waited a few seconds but got response. “Yep. She’s not coming back. Okay, great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession time: So just like Contact at Katya’s place, you can always find Brooklyn Nine Nine playing at all times around my house. While binge watching that show and UNHhhh simultaneously, is that this idea came to mind. I pictured the Ru girls taking part in the b99 universe and everything made so much sense to me. The idea was to write a funny story, it is based on one of the smartest comedy shows currently on air, after all, but, yeah, my writing is too angsty, too dark, too loaded with emotions like to write something light and easy going like the show. And well, let’s see how this turns out.  
-Monkey


	3. Blue.

**Chapter 3 - Blue.**

Trixie stared at the same board she had been looking at for the last two weeks.

It felt like a piece out of a movie scene, with pictures and maps and big lines connecting the information. 

When she decided to be part of the police force, that was what she had expected the job to be. She had watched just enough television in her childhood to inspire that mental image. She liked the aspect of the crimes being one big puzzle, she only needed to find all the right pieces, and then put them together. She became a detective and none of that happened. She was twenty-six years old and felt like she had wasted the last five years of her life behind a desk. 

Now, as she tried to make sense of the pieces of paper thumbtacked down on the cork board, she felt utterly unprepared. A single moment of doubt washed over her, and she allowed it. 

Maybe she was supposed to be a desk rat. 

Maybe her role in the force was supposed to be minor. 

Maybe she was never supposed to have gotten that promotion.

The self-loathing was gone as quickly as it arrived. She was meant to be there. She hadn’t fought so hard to get out of her hometown, struggled to climb up the professional ladder, achieved the position she wanted, just to give up on her first case. There was no way she could give this guy, a weirdo obsessed with turning prostitutes into puppets, the power to ruin her life.

Shaking her head, to get rid of any previous thoughts, she tried to look at the evidence with new eyes. 

There had been seven murders total, six over the course of the last year, and the most recent one five months later. All pictures provided the same scene but different girl. They were all at their own place, sitting at their dining table. The arms of all the girls were lifted by strings attached to the ceiling. Impeccable makeup was applied on their faces, and their bodies were completely drained of blood.

None of the apartments showed signs of forced entry, which meant they had all known the killer to some extent. That last part was still inconcrete, since the girls had nothing to connect them other that their profession. They didn’t work on the same street, didn’t have friends in common. Nothing. This man had made them trust him enough to let him into their homes.

_But how?_

She looked at the dots placed on the map of the city, indicating where the killings had taken place. The biggest one signaled the spot where the last body had been found. 

Trixie couldn’t make sense out of them. She had tried connecting the dots, they didn’t form any shape or letter or specific form. There was no hidden message on the distributions of the murders. She had also tried to find a reason behind the actual addresses. There was no play on words with the names of the streets, and the numbers of the residencies didn’t have any resemblance.

What she needed was a break. She was sure she had memorized every piece of information on that board. The best solution would be to distance herself from it and come back with a fresh state of mind.

“There’s a saying where I come from: watching pots will never make them boil.”

When she got no response, she turned around, ready to ask Kennedy if she wanted to grab some coffee, but all she found was a sleeping body. Kennedy snoring softly was actually a lot more helpful than the awake version of her, who was always shutting down theories and never coming up with good ideas. She did more to delay the process than to help solve the case. Katya had recommended to Trixie to just let Kennedy sleep.

_Katya.___

_ _Things hadn’t been as tense with Katya, as Trixie had expected. There was something about Katya that just made people want to be around her, her company was enjoyable. Trixie quickly realized that she wasn’t the only one drawn to her beyond reason. They were often being interrupted as their colleagues went to chat with her. The constant visits made their interactions easier. Trixie was never really alone with Katya for long periods, preventing awkwardness to seep into their conversations._ _

_ _On more than one occasion Trixie had caught Katya staring at her, hungry eyes scanning her curves without a care. It was almost as if Katya wanted her to know that she was being watched, observed, wanted. All that Trixie had felt was uncomfortable._ _

_ _Although, deep down, a small part of her had been flattered that Katya could flirt with her so openly, throwing dirty jokes at her, and making her blush in the most inappropriate times. It kind of hurt to realize that was simply her personality. There was this charm about Katya that seemed to work on both men and women, and she reveled in her bisexuality. She would shamelessly share stories about sucking a penis one day and then rant about how beautiful boobs were the next. It was such a strange sight for Trixie, who had grown up in the deep country, with the simplistic idea of a woman finding a man to put a ring on her finger, and the story would end._ _

_ _In the two weeks they had been working together, Trixie had learned more about Katya’s sexual career than her actual life._ _

_ _All the stories of carefree sex also weighed Trixie’s heart down a little, because it meant that she had been nothing but a notch on Katya’s bedpost. She had internally been kicking herself for that weekend she spent picturing the two of them together, not only repeating the night they had shared but turning it into something special. How naïve she had been. Her foolishness had an excuse, though, or at least that was what she kept telling herself. She had just been dumped. Her mind wasn’t thinking straight, her heart wasn’t feeling properly, her soul wasn’t directing the pain to the right person. It was a more than valid reason._ _

_ _The amount of work they had to go through had also played a big part on mending Trixie’s broken heart. She had a purpose, she had something to do, she had a murderer to catch. They did, both of them; but Katya was constantly asking for breaks, going out for a smoke or needing more coffee. _ _

_ _Trixie wondered if she was trying to take a step back from the case as well. Looking at the clock, she realized Katya had left for the gym over an hour ago and hadn’t come back. _ _

_ _Running sounded like a good idea. Maybe Trixie should go on the treadmill for a bit and try to clear her head._ _

_ _Just stepping out of the meeting room, that had been reserved for the case specifically, already had Trixie feeling much better. She was not alone with her thoughts, and Kennedy’s loud breathing wasn’t her only ambience anymore. The bullpen was alive, people were coming and going, printers could be heard in the background, and a phone rang somewhere._ _

_ _Trixie waved at Violet when she passed by the copying machine. Violet only nodded her head slightly in return, always focused and concentrated in her work. Katya considered Violet one of her best friends, and promised Trixie she wasn’t always as cold and distant. Trixie had a hard time believing it; but ultimately trusted Katya’s judgement on people._ _

_ _On her desk, Jasmine was laughing loudly at something Roy was telling her. Across the room Tempest had her nails digging on Kasha’s back, trying to scratch a spot that she couldn’t reach herself._ _

_ _With a smile on her face, Trixie walked passed them, changed into her sports clothes, and made her way down to the basement. It was close to the end of the shift, there was only one other person at the gym._ _

_ _Katya could feel every single muscle screaming at her in unison. She had been straining them to their maximum capacity. The rubber band restricted the stretching even more, and she loved it. She was always trying to break the boundaries of her own elasticity. She felt the plastic biting at the arch of her foot, but she stubbornly kept trying to make her shin touch her ear. Her other leg was tucked in front of her, providing the needed support to remain balanced._ _

_ _She didn’t notice when someone else walked into the room but she could hear the soft thuds of feet against the belt of a treadmill._ _

_ _Her eyes were closed, but she could still feel a stare burning her skin. It felt nice to be observed, she liked it a lot. If her sudden spectator wanted a show, she was going to give them just that._ _

_ _Throwing the resistance band to the side, she extended both legs in front of her. Her back straightened, and she concentrated on the low of her back as she bent forward. Very easily her hands took hold of her feet, she used them as anchor points to have her forehead pressed against her knees. _ _

_ _She then opened her legs, making her head softly drop to the floor. Wider and wider she spread her legs until they formed a perfect side split._ _

_ _Her heels were planted on the floor, the palms of her hands laid flat in front of her, and she lifted her tailbone from the ground. Her torso pressed hard against the floor as her butt remained up in the air. She dropped back down and waited a few seconds._ _

_ _The feet on the treadmill sounded faster._ _

_ _She started bouncing, in slow controlled movements, making her ass hit the floor every time. It wasn’t intentional but she started to turn herself on. She hump the ground faster and faster. Grunts left her mouth in effort but they soon turned into moaning. _ _

_ _The stepping sound stopped, only the belt going around and around could be heard._ _

_ _Using her arms, she pushed her torso back up. Her legs closed in front of her, and she let out a deep sigh. Her eyes opened. Her lips curled up into a smirk when she spotted Trixie. She had her feet on each side of the machine, avoiding the band that still ran below her. Her mouth was wide open in shock, revealing a piece of gum stuck to her molars. It was a funny sight to say the least._ _

_ _“Oh, hi,” Katya said as casually as she could. “Didn’t see you there.”_ _

_ _Trixie didn’t move from her spot. She needed a moment to recover but she finally spoke. “You are flexible,” she stated the obvious._ _

_ _Katya laughed shortly. “I am. You should have known that by now, Mary.”_ _

_ _A button was pressed, the treadmill stopped running._ _

_ _“You-you... I mean, we didn’t…” Trixie stuttered, making Katya laugh again._ _

_ _“Maybe we should, then,” she offered with a side smile and the shrug of a shoulder._ _

_ _The look of shock on Trixie’s face was priceless. Katya couldn’t hold it any longer and started laughing hysterically. _ _

_ _“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she managed between laughs. “It’s just so easy to–” She was unable to finish her sentence, as more laughter took over her._ _

_ _“You are horrible.” Trixie took her hand towel and threw it at her, small giggles bubbled up inside her. _ _

_ _The towel landed not even halfway between the two, but it worked to lighten up the mood. Katya watched as Trixie climbed down from the machine to pick the towel up, then made her way to sit right in front of her._ _

_ _“Did you and Kennedy manage to get something?” The question was clearly rhetorical, Katya knew the answer already. Nonetheless, she asked with a serious tone, hoping that Trixie would catch the humor behind it._ _

_ _Luckily, she did. Trixie laughed softly, a small “Oh, totally,” leaving her lips. “I don’t understand how she can sleep so much,” she continued, her voice laced with bewilderment._ _

_ _Katya’s legs kicked the air between them as she laughed uncontrollably. She did manage to catch the small smile on Trixie’s lips, though. She seemed proud to make her hysterical like that. Katya then made a mental note to laugh at her jokes more often, just so she could see that cocky smile again._ _

_ _“No, but seriously,” Katya directed the conversation back to work. “What are we missing? I feel like there’s something, right in front of us, that we are not seeing.”_ _

_ _“They can’t be isolated cases,” Trixie offered. “There’s no way.”_ _

_ _“And we are not dealing with a copy-cat,” Katya declared. “I know it’s him. I can feel it in my pussy.”_ _

_ _Trixie lifted an overly drawn eyebrow. “You know, normal people don’t feel hunches in their… in there.”_ _

_ _“Oh, there’s nothing normal about this pussy, Momma.”_ _

_ _It looked like she wanted to say something, as if a comeback had died on Trixie’s lips, because she opened and closed her mouth. In the end she just laughed and told Katya they should go back to work. She wanted to share a few ideas with her, and it was getting late._ _

_ _Katya allowed Trixie to help her up, ignoring the electric shock hitting her palm as soon as their hands met. The procedure felt oddly familiar._ _

_ _They made their way back upstairs, still in their workout clothes, which made it even harder for Katya to keep her eyes away from Trixie. The leggings hugged her ass tightly, accentuated her fleshy hips and tiny waist. The tank top she was wearing barely did anything to cover her big tits. The term ‘hourglass figure’ was invented just so Katya could put into words the exact shape of Trixie’s body. _ _

_ _The room was empty when they reached it. It was a few minutes past six and everybody on their floor had headed home for the evening. Nobody from the night shift had arrived yet. Would it really be that inappropriate if they–_ _

_ _“You see this?” _ _

_ _Trixie’s voice took her out of her dirty train of thoughts. Her finger pointed at a picture. A picture that Katya had been analyzing for over a year. It was the crime scene of the first victim they had found. There was nothing on that picture that Katya hadn’t seen before._ _

_ _“What-what? What am I seeing?” _ _

_ _Trixie moved her finger a little, a blue square was next to the foot of the table. “At first I didn’t think much of this. It looked like a random piece of paper, right?” She then moved to the table in the middle, shuffling through files. “Then, I found this!”_ _

_ _She pulled out a picture of the third murder. In the image a bunch of clutter could be seen on a coffee table. Underneath an empty bottle of vodka, a blue shadow was almost imperceptible, but Katya could see it. It was there._ _

_ _“I don’t know if it means anything,” Trixie shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not even sure if they are the same thing. Maybe I’m just seeing stuff.”_ _

_ _“Nonono,” Katya was quick to correct her. “I think you are into something.” Her eyes were wild, seemingly unfocused, going rapidly through the pictures on the desk. “We need to find a better shot of this. Have you seen it on any other crime scene?”_ _

_ _Even though Katya was not looking at her, Trixie shook her head. “I haven’t really gone through everything, just spotted it on my way out earlier today.”_ _

_ _“Okay, okay.” Katya nodded dramatically. “Let’s do this. Why don’t you go down to the nerds and see if they can blow it up and make out what it says. I will look into the other pictures and see if I can find it again.”_ _

_ _Trixie obeyed without hesitation, running out of the room to find the tech experts. _ _

_ _Katya threw all the pictures to the floor in one swift motion, to get a better view. She couldn’t believe she had missed something like that. She had been studying the same cases for so long and, as happy as she was that they possibly had a new lead, her insecurities still made their presence noticed. It felt like failing, and there was nothing she hated more than that. _ _

_ _If she had overlooked that tiny detail, what else had she missed?_ _

_ _She was not going to dwell on things like that, though, not anymore. She had learned to live with fear and anxiety and used them in her favor, as propulsors to do better instead of crippling her. All the thoughts getting tangled in her mind only drove her to work harder, to focus better. She’d learned to redirect those emotions and put them to good use. That was the reason why, when Trixie came back with an enlarged version of the picture, Katya had found the blue paper in another of the crime scenes._ _

_ _“What did you get?” She asked Trixie._ _

_ _Trixie looked around until she found an empty spot on the cork board. “It looks like a flower… a rose, maybe?” Her head tilted, trying to see the pixeled picture from a different angle. “Did you find anything?”_ _

_ _“Yes! And there’s also this.” Katya’s face contorted, a string of unintelligible noises leaving her mouth. “I don’t know. It could be something.” She moved around the floor, where she had spread all the pictures they had from the different crime scenes, until she found the most recent one. “Look at her feet. The blood puddle is oddly shaped on this side. It kinda ends on a straight line. You see?” _ _

_ _She brought the photo closer to Trixie, she could understand exactly what Katya was saying._ _

_ _“It’s as if… there was… something square stopped…” Trixie trialed off, unsure of how to put into words what she was seeing._ _

_ _Katya smiled widely. “Aha-aha,” she encouraged her. “As if something square had been there and forced the blood to spill _around_ it!” She concluded._ _

_ _Trixie’s face filled with recognition. “Oh, my God! We have to get back there!”_ _

_ _She wasn’t even done pronouncing the phrase when Katya was already grabbing her keys. _ _

_ _“You took the words right out of my pussy.”_ _

_ _The laugh that came out of Trixie was unintentional. “Oh wow. You really are obsessed with your pussy.”_ _

_ _Katya stopped walking, her hands up in front of herself, as if Trixie had just said the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean, c’mon, aren’t you?”_ _

_ _Trixie didn’t reply. She pushed her playfully to keep on walking, and followed her outside. She couldn’t tell Katya that indeed there was a point where she had been obsessed, not only with that particular part of her body, but everything that she was. That in her mind she had conjured this image of her that had nothing to do with reality. That the reality of Kaya had surpassed even her wildest dreams. No, she couldn’t confess any of that. So she simply laughed it off and got in the passenger seat of Katya’s car, which was a mess._ _

_ _“Uh, you are just like my sister. Her car is disgusting.”_ _

_ _“Hey!” Katya reproched. “I am an agent of the law, my duty is to put criminals behind bars. Who has time to clean a car when the whole human race is at risk?”_ _

_ _It was meant to be a joke, Trixie knew it but, as soon as Katya pulled out of the parking lot, without checking the road for other cars, she couldn’t help but notice the irony of her words. Katya’s driving was reckless. She never did as much as glance in the rearview mirror, and changed lanes without turning her blinkers on. Trixie held on to the door handle and yelled loudly whenever there was a pedestrian in sight. Katya kept telling her to relax, that everything was going to be alright. She trusted the other drivers to move out of the way. They were the police after all._ _

_ _They reached the victim’s apartment building after a few minutes, minutes that were enough to make Trixie grateful to still be alive, and made their way up in the elevator. Katya was chatting her ear off, explaining something about the history of the building, but all Trixie could feel was her warmth tickling her naked arm. They should have changed before leaving the precinct._ _

_ _Pushing the police tape aside, Katya pressed the key into the knob and let them in. The entire place smelled like bleach, making her nose scrunch up in disgust. Forensics had taken care of cleaning all the blood out, taken the necessary evidence, and left all other belongings intact. It was sad, really. Katya felt sorry for the girl. Her mind had already come up with a whole life story for her. She had come from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Her hopes of becoming a movie star stuffed into a single suitcase as she stepped down from the bus. Only to have her dreams crushed by the bills that kept coming and coming and she was unable to pay. That was when an answer came. _ _

_ _“And you gathered all of that…” Trixie’s voice took her out of her imaginary world. “Just by looking at her shit? Damn, you are good.”_ _

_ _Katya hadn’t even realize she was saying it out loud. She was simply trying to connect with the space, with the victim. She could feel embarrassed that her thinking process had been discovered, but Trixie didn’t judge her. She actually went along with it._ _

_ _“She was pretty, she was young, she could get paid for it. It was easy, so she did it.”_ _

_ _With her bottom lip pressed between her teeth, trying not to smile like an idiot, Katya nodded effusively to Trixie’s words._ _

_ _“It worked just fine,” Katya added. “Until he came along.”_ _

_ _Trixie’s face seemed to soften. She moved closer to Katya and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We are gonna catch him. We will.”_ _

_ _There was no way for either of the two to know that for sure. Katya had been so close before and he managed to slip away right in front of her eyes. She couldn’t agree with Trixie, she couldn’t feel the confidence she was exuding. So she simply nodded and tapped her hand slightly. The tingling on her skin was burning, causing her to shrug her shoulder and make Trixie’s hand fall awkwardly to her side._ _

_ _“Okay!” Katya clapped her hands, moving on from the uncomfortable moment. “Let’s play this out. She walked in.” Her hand pointed towards the door. “Was she alone or with him?”_ _

_ _Her question came out more like a trivia. One that Trixie happily accepted, walking to the entrance and analyzing the space. In the wall next to her, there was a small dent. She touched the loose drywall with her finger and looked around for a source. She found it right away. _ _

_ _“He pushed her inside. The door banged against the wall. Here.” Opening the door completely, she could tell the scrape was a perfect match for the knob._ _

_ _“You are so fucking smart, you know that?”_ _

_ _Trixie simply shrugged at her comment, but the blush on her cheeks didn't go unnoticed._ _

_ _“So he attacked her by the door,” Katya continued. “Maybe fought her, but ended up dragging her and sitting her on the dinner table.” She looked around, the whole set had been taken to the lab. She bent her knees and tapped her thighs. “Come on. I’ll be the chair.”_ _

_ _The laugh coming from Trixie was loud and filled with surprise. “I am not going to sit on you.”_ _

_ _Katya stood up straight with a roll of her eyes. “Fine. You’ll be the chair then.”_ _

_ _“Why does anybody have to be a chair?” Trixie’s voice was light, filled with amusement. “Can’t we just use that one?” She pointed across the room, where a perfectly functioning chair sat by the window._ _

_ _Katya’s mouth opened in surprise. “You want to disturb a crime scene? What are you, five?”_ _

_ _Before they knew it, they were both laughing. Katya couldn’t remember the last time she had so much fun with a case. She knew there was nothing funny about the young woman whose life they were invading, whose death was the reason they were there. Nonetheless, there was happiness filling her lungs and making it easier for her to breathe. She knew it was because of Trixie. Katya had a feeling that she had finally found someone that understood her sense of humor. It was refreshing, it was liberating._ _

_ _“It’s here!” _ _

_ _The loud scream forced Katya to land back in the reality of the situation. She moved next to Trixie, who was kneeling down behind the couch. As much as she stretched her arm, she couldn’t reach the piece of paper they were there to find._ _

_ _Katya easily slid underneath the furniture, grabbing the blue card with her glove covered fingers._ _

_ _“How did it even get there?” Trixie asked as she helped Katya to her feet._ _

_ _Blood had been cleaned, but the outline of the puddle was still visible. Katya put the new evidence down where they had imagined it. The stains on the card complemented the broken line on the floor. It was a perfect match._ _

_ _“Maybe he kicked it with his feet on the way out?” Katya tried to reason, but everything was still very unclear._ _

_ _They evaluated the card together. It had the outline of a rose on the front and nothing else. There was no name, no address, no phone number; nothing but the delicate lines forming the intricate design._ _

_ _“Do you know what this is?”_ _

_ _Katya shook her head to answer Trixie’s question. “No, but I know who might.” She thought about the possibilities before turning back to Trixie. “I need to make a few phone calls first but… what are you doing tomorrow night?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows_ _

_ _“Catching a bastard?” Trixie offered with a smile._ _

_ _A smile that Katya could only return, the same smile that had her repeating Trixie’s words in a sing-song voice. _ _

_ _“We are catching a bastard.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, please, do let me know what you think.  
You can also find me on all social media as DenDenMonMon.  
Come say hi and lets talk fics!  
-Monkey.


	4. White.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot is going to happen in this chapter, and I mean A LOT.  
I would like to formally apologize in advance.  
For your attention, thank you.  
-Monkey

**Chapter 4 - White.**

Katya liked to keep herself busy. A mind as hyperactive as hers needed a specific task to focus on, otherwise, she would be a burning ball of unrestrainable energy. So, she liked to concentrate her efforts into a series of small chores that, as a whole, would contribute into something bigger. It wasn’t always easy to keep her head in the game. More often than not she had to be railed back on track. Ginger was an expert on doing that, but Ginger wasn’t around anymore. Now, she needed to get herself in check, and it wasn’t easy.

That day, as any other, she went to her yoga class first thing in the morning. That was the beauty of Los Angeles, Angelinos were so concerned about their fitness that it wasn’t hard to find work out classes at, pretty much, any hour of the day.

With her energy channeled for the day, or at least for the next few hours, she drove to her favorite coffee shop. She liked Priscilla’s because it looked like a bookstore more than an actual café. The decorations were earthy and warm, and there were always a lot of dogs. The best part was that it wasn’t right in the middle of the city, with too many people coming and going to allow her to concentrate. The twenty minute drive over the hill was worth the calmness of Toluca Lake.

And she needed calmness today, of all days.

She sat down on a table outside, bringing a coffee cup and a cigarette to her lips, alternately. If she had to die of something, it better be of this insanely satisfying combination.

Files were not supposed to leave the station, everybody knew that, but Katya had taken a few pictures out. The first one was the blown out image of the card they had found at the first crime scene. She knew she had seen that before, just couldn’t remember where. It was right there, in a compartment of her imaginary, but she couldn’t find the right vault. And she pictured herself, running in the hallways of her head, guided by smoke and fueled by caffeine, pulling all the imagery she had saved throughout the years, yet never picking the correct one. It was right there, and she couldn’t get a hold of it.

It was like seeing someone, that Katya knew she had met before, but couldn’t remember their name. Then spending the entire day wondering where she knew them from, coming up with nothing.

The anxiety of the situation kept making her skin crawl. She closed her eyes and tried a few meditation techniques to ease her nerves. It didn’t work very well. That was when the second cigarette came.

She picked up her phone, the white stick still secured between her fingers, and started texting. It was risky, she shouldn’t be doing it, but she didn’t know what else to do.

Another picture Katya had with her was of one of the crime scenes. The girl had her eyes lost in the middle of nowhere, and her mouth was slightly opened. Her skin was pale, since all the blood had been drained from her body. It looked like an image taken out of a scary movie, which intrigued Katya even more. There was something about this particular criminal that she simply couldn’t wrap her mind around. 

One of the reasons why she was so good at her job was because she was able to canalize the killer’s instincts. Her coworkers would joke about Katya having the mind of a killer, but not the guts to actually do it. They were probably right. She could usually feel it in her bones. She could feel the motive behind the actions, the rush of the preparation, the satisfaction of actually doing it; in a weird way she was familiar with all of those. Nonetheless, her mind was empty when dealing with The Puppeteer. It was an unnerving feeling that she had never experienced before, and she didn’t like it at all.

Her phone was silent until the butt of the third cigarette found the ashtray. The affirmation had come. It was time to get things moving.

The message she sent Trixie was very vague. Trixie read it many times, even showed it to Jasmine, to see if they could figure it out together. From what they gathered, Katya was picking Trixie up that night, she needed to be wearing civilian clothes because they were going to some sort of party. All of that also meant they wouldn’t see her at the precinct all day. Trixie wanted to be mad, she knew Katya was extremely talented. Trixie had never met anyone as smart as Katya before, never. Yet, Trixie felt she was the only one really working the case while Katya was out and about, taking a day off to herself.

Jasmine, in her very understanding nature, told her to give Katya a chance. She always knew what she was doing. Trixie was advised to trust whatever Katya had in mind, that it could be a little out there, but it would surely get the job done. 

Violet chimed in, and with a dry tone she told Trixie not to judge Katya’s process. It hadn’t been a request. 

So, that was what Trixie did. In the early evening, she waited for Katya at the back of the building, as she had asked, wearing a short dress, white denim jacket and white go-go boots. Her makeup was exaggeratedly done, making her look more beautiful than ever.

“Hello, Barbie doll,” Katya greeted her as she pulled up next to her.

Trixie rolled her eyes and got in the passenger seat. “This better be good.”

They drove for a few minutes. The sun was still shining, even when the clock was about to hit seven in the evening. The sun rays hit their faces as they moved down Laurel Canyon. Trixie was still sulking in her seat, after having to work alone all day. Katya was unbothered, singing to every single song that came up on the radio. Her voice was loud, and incredibly off key. She changed the words constantly. Trixie could never get behind such crude bathroom humor, but Katya seemed to love singing about taking dumps in inappropriate places.

It was hard to keep up with the made up lyrics, especially when Trixie needed to pay attention to the road for both of them. The path was narrow and the turns were too close together. Katya behind the wheel was already dangerous by itself, having her distracted by the radio in such delicate road, felt more than Trixie could take.

They were about to reach Hollywood Boulevard, the residential side, not the one with the big neon lights and tourists filling the streets, when Katya took a turn and stopped the car in an alley. The walls around them were covered in beautiful graffiti. Trixie got lost in the eyes of a gorgeous fairy before she realized they had parked.

“Did I ever tell you…” Katya stopped, flickering her lighter a couple of times before she could light up her cigarette. “Did I ever tell you why I became a cop?”

Trixie shook her head. They both knew she hadn’t.

Katya blew the smoke out the window before returning her attention to her. “I had an amazing childhood. My parents were the most supportive. They never censored anything, not the music we listened to, nor the TV shows or movies that we watched. Picture the most perfect environment for a kid to grow, and I still managed to screw things up.”

It was like a vision. The sun was setting behind them, the smoke leaving Katya’s mouth was enchanting, and the serious tone of her voice was freaking Trixie out. She didn’t say anything, though, she allowed her to continue.

“I love drugs,” Katya said with a groan. “I fucking love drugs, Trixie. Every drug under the sun, you name it, I’ve done it. They are the best thing that has ever happened to me. They also almost got me killed,” she ended her sentence very matter-of-factly, which was a complete contrast to Trixie’s shocked expression.

“Oh, wow,” was all Trixie could let out.

Katya shrugged her shoulders. “Almost, that’s the keyword here. That was a really long time ago. I’m all good now. All clean.” She took what looked like a coin from the cupholder, toyed with it for a bit and put it back.

Trixie had enough knowledge to recognize it was an anniversary chip from AA.

“I went to rehab,” Katya confirmed Trixie’s silent assumptions. “Got my shit together… well, as together as I could.” She laughed dryly at her own words. “And then decided to fix my wrong doing by helping others, so I became a detective. Call it a Step Nine taken too far.”

All that information was taking a moment for Trixie to absorb, but she nodded her head. Maybe the full depth of the situation wasn’t really something she could understand, but she wanted to let Katya know that she was there for her. 

“Now, about tonight. I had to make some phone calls,” Katya continued. “Reconnect with people from my past. We are about to meet them now, and they may say things about me.”

Trixie felt her eyes widening with each word that left Katya’s mouth. “Are you going to use again? Because, Katya, no case is worth your–”

As cute as this protective version of Trixie was, Katya had to interrupt her. “No, don’t worry, I won’t. There may be people using, though, and we can’t arrest them. They can’t know we are cops. My contact is already waiting for me, it should be a clean in and out situation. I just...” There was a pause, Katya tried to find the right words to describe what she was thinking. “I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t want you to hear it from someone else. I don’t know.”

“I get it. You are fine.”

They shared a smile, an air of comprehension filled the space between them. The engine was brought back to life, and Trixie pressed a reassuring hand on Katya’s thigh as they drove away.

It was only a few blocks before Katya stopped the car again. Apparently, there was nobody on the street. They stayed there in silence for a moment. The car was idling and it was getting dark around them. Trixie knew better than to ask any questions, even when she was growing nervous by the minute.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the shadows. Trixie didn’t know if the girl had been there the whole time, hiding on the left side of the building, but she was now making her way to them. The girl was short and her hair was long. She stomped her feet hard against the pavement as she walked around the car and leaned into Katya’s window.

“_Hola, Mami,_” the girl addressed Katya with a side smile. “I ain’t see you around here for a while.”

Katya, playing the role, moved a hand to run up and down the girl’s arm. “Hi, _mija_.” Katya returned the smile. Her fingers getting covered in glitter, transferred from the girl’s skin. “Soon, baby,” she promised. “Right now I’m looking for _la güera_. Is she around?”

The girl’s face fell immediately. With a tiny role of her eyes, she pushed herself back, yelling a name that Trixie wasn’t able to catch. “You and I used to have so much fun. What happened, baby? Now you only go for _flaquitas y güeritas_, eh?” The girl pushed her chin towards Trixie. 

She didn’t know any Spanish, but Trixie was pretty sure she had just been insulted.

“_Nada de eso, mamá._ You know you will always be my favorite.”

Just then, the car door opened, and a girl got, not so gracefully, into the backseat.

“Beat it, Vanjie. These are my bitches now.”

The girl stepped aside, her mocha-colored skin shining under the streetlamp. And Katya drove away. Silence once again reigned during the ride. The only occasional noise came from the girl in the backseat, who loudly chewed gum with her mouth opened.

Katya then pulled into a motel. In some kind of drive-through arrangement, she requested a room. The window to the cashier was covered in tinted glass, preventing them from seeing their face. It actually made things a lot easier. They were given a room number and they found their gate right away. It had some sort of garage, the metallic door closed automatically behind them when the car went in. 

They got out of the car and nobody said a word still. Trixie only followed them up the small staircase that led to their room. Going behind them also gave her the chance to look at the girl, to really look at her. Her makeup was applied perfectly, Trixie could recognize that right away. She was extremely beautiful, with long blonde hair and legs that seem interminable underneath her tiny skirt. She had a white tank top with chinese lettering on the front.

As soon as Katya heard the front door getting closed, she couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped in excitement and hugged her friend tight to her body. They hadn’t seen each other in so long, which was a good thing, because it only meant that none of them had gotten into trouble.

“I missed you so much,” Katya whispered into the blonde curls.

“I couldn’t believe you had called me. How are you? Are you okay? Can we trust her?”

Something suddenly clicked in Katya’s head. “Oh, God. Shit. Sorry. This is Trixie, my new partner. Trixie, this is Willam, he… well, she– wait, which one is it?”

“You are a man?!” Trixie looked surprised, to say the least. 

Katya couldn’t help but laugh at her. She knew Trixie meant no disrespect, and Willam did too, who simply continued to chew on the same piece of gum.

“What? Didn’t you know? Some women have dicks these days,” Willam said so chilled, so casually, that it only elicited another round of laughter from Katya. “And I don’t mind. Either is fine.”

“Oh, bitch, you are a woman.” Right then, Trixie seemed to realize what she had done, she physically shook her head, trying to land back into the conversion. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude,” she said walking to Willam, extending her hand to greet her. “It’s just that… oh, my God. You are really pretty.”

Willam shook her hand, and played with her own hair with the other. “I know. I have a mirror at home.”

Katya let out a wheezing laugh from behind them. “Glad to know the undercover work hasn’t changed your nasty ass.” Katya chuckled before taking a somber tone. “How is that going, by the way?”

Willam got on the bed, bouncing a couple of times before crossing her legs. “It’s hard. You know, nobody wants to trust you when you are this beautiful and give better head.” She kept playing with her hair while Katya laughed at her words yet again. “Yeah, no, I’m getting places,” she finally spoke seriously. “This goes way deeper than we thought, Kats.” 

“Oh, shit,” Katya said genuinely concerned. 

She took a seat next to her friend. She could only imagine all the things that Willam had gone through these last few months. The undercover mission was only supposed to last a few weeks. Willam was meant to collect intel among a group of trans-girls being forced to do sex work, and then come back to do her regular job. Nobody had planned for the small case to turn into such a big deal. Katya wasn’t nervous about Willam, she could take care of herself, she just hoped she could do more to help her.

“I was following one lead, _one_, but it’s a full net,” Willam offered. “There are so many more branches, though. I’m gonna need more time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. That’s not what we are here for,” Katya assured her. “You are still on the case. I just need your help to identify something. The Puppeteer is back.”

Willam’s jaw fell open. “What?” 

Katya turned to Trixie, who had been extremely quiet the whole time. In a way, Katya was grateful for the private moment she had just gotten with her friend, but they needed to get to work. She didn’t want to risk Willam’s status by keeping her for too long.

Trixie got the hint. She took the card out of her purse, still wrapped in the evidence bag. “We found this in four of the seven murders. We don’t know what it is. It has no name or address or phone number, just these stupid white lines forming a rose.”

Willam took the plastic bag in her hand, moved it around to get a better view of the piece of paper, recognition filled her features right away. “Oh, this is Luzon’s brothel.”

“You know what this is?” Katya asked, her voice filled with hope.

“Yeah, you see these lines here.” She pointed to the middle of the flower. “That’s the letter M, for Manila, Manila Luzon. Everybody knows who she is, and if you don’t then you probably can’t afford her. That’s why there’s no info on the card. She’s an eccentric bitch.”

Trixie looked at her with confusion. “What do you mean eccentric?”

“She has a dungeon, a classroom for role play, and things like that. Her girls are super talented, she hires only the best ones.”

“Do you know where we can find her?”

They got all the information about the place from Willam and, a few minutes later, they were dropping her off at her corner. Katya made sure to yell obscenities as Willam got out of the car, promising to come back and do more indecencies next week while they drove away.

It didn’t take them long to reach the brothel.

Trixie double checked the address once Katya was finally able to parallel park. She kept mumbling something about women’s brains, saying they didn’t develop the parts that calculated distance and space as much as men.

“If you think about it,” she continued, even when Trixie wasn’t paying attention. “It’s not at all misogynistic when people say women can’t drive, it’s a scientific fact. We can’t. We can do a lot of other things better than men, but driving, oh, Momma…” The tone of her voice changed when she looked up at Trixie. “And you are not paying attention.”

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Trixie asked, not even pretending she was listening to Katya.

They stood in front of an old building, but yet again, every building downtown was old. All the lights seemed to be off, and no sound came from the inside. Both looked up, spotting the large windows that didn’t indicate any movement happening on the other side of the glass. It had all the telltale signs of an abandoned building, and there they were, pulling the stained glass door to walk in.

A light bulb blinked above their heads, providing soft, intermittent lighting to the entry hallway. At the end of the corridor, an elevator waited for them.

Katya was the first one to walk inside the small cubicle. “If Willam sent us here to get killed, I swear to God…”

“Look!” Trixie pointed at the buttons of the elevator, successfully stopping Katya on her planning of bloody revenge. “It’s the same rose.”

The intricate design they had found on the cards replaced the number of the last button of the row. Trixie pressed it and they allowed the metallic box to take them to the top floor.

It would’ve been a good idea to come up with a strategy on their way up. Yet, they didn’t. Even if they had, though, they couldn’t possibly be prepared for what encountered them once the door slid open. Everything looked immaculate, upscale, expensive. A complete opposite to the first floor that had received them. The flashy furniture somehow made sense, as if it was meant to be put together. Even the blonde behind the tall desk belonged there just fine.

“Hello, welcome to Madam Luzon’s House of Pleasure. How can we take care of you tonight?”

Katya read the tag on the receptionist’s chest. _Detox._ Katya hardly doubted that was her real name, but it fitted her perfectly. Her lips were big, and there wasn’t a single wrinkle on her face. The tight dress showed off her perfectly sculpted body, if not by the gods themselves, by a group of doctors throughout many years. The face and body could be fake, but there was something very real about her smile. The contrast was verging on funny. The name Detox definitely suited her.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Katya flashed her a smile as she folded her arms on top of the desk. “We are here to gather some information.” She put as much effort as she could to make her voice somewhat alluring.

Detox giggled. Maybe it worked, maybe it was her job to respond like that to clients; but Katya felt proud of herself.

“Of course! Are you two pretty ladies looking to be a part of our team, or simply join the club?”

“What’s the difference?” Trixie asked.

Katya made yet another mental note, she had to talk Trixie into being more approachable. Half of the job was making people feel comfortable when talking to them. That entailed a lot of flexing the tone of their voices, and the ability to sound open and friendly, attributes that Trixie seemed to live without.

In an attempt to save the moment, Katya laughed exaggeratedly. “This beautiful lady is assuming we are hot enough to work here,” she spoke directly to Trixie before returning her attention to the receptionist. “Actually, we were hoping you could help us with something.” She fumbled with her phone for a moment before pulling up the picture that she needed, it was of the latest victim before being attacked. “Have you seen her? Has this girl worked here?”

Detox shook her head right away. “Nope. Why? Is she missing or are you trying to arrest her?”

She was very relaxed. Detox had by then understood that they were cops, that they were there to do an actual investigation, and she seemed unfazed. Katya was having a hard time reading her. Any person working at a place that literally had the words ‘House of Pleasure’ in the name, would be shaking in their boots in the presence of the police. She must have gotten good training on how to dissuade any law enforcer from what they actually did, or the paperwork was made up in such a way that they wouldn’t be able to prove what really went down there. Katya didn’t care, not really, not right now. She wasn’t there to shut down a sex house, she had a murderer to catch.

“Neither, actually.” It looked like Trixie had gotten the hint, her voice sounded just a little bit softer. “Is she a member of the club?” A head shake answered her question. “Is there anybody else we can ask about her?”

Detox’s perfect customer service smile shone brightly. “Sure. Please, excuse me for a minute.”

Trixie and Katya looked at each other as the girl went through a door on the side. Katya wanted to tell Trixie to relax, to keep her chill, and act normal. She wanted to let Trixie know that they were there to support each other; that they were going to get in there, get as much information as they could and go from there. She didn’t have to. After a few seconds of holding her stare, Trixie nodded. She understood.

“Madam Luzon will see you now,” Detox spoke a few feet from them, holding the door open so they could walk in.

Frantic music received them as soon as they entered the big office. In the corner, who they could only guess was Madam Luzon, rapidly moved a brush against a large canvas. She wore what seemed to be plastic cover in the form of a puffy dress. A white streak of hair bounced at the top of her head when she looked down to her paint palette. The strokes were long and thin as she moved to the rhythm of the quick tempo. She changed colors a couple of times, but didn’t stop until the music came to a dramatic end. That was when she finally turned around to face them, a wide smile on her face.

“Hello! Welcome. How can I take care of you tonight?” 

She put the brush down and took a towel. She wiped her hands but all the stains remained on her skin, leaving her with big freckles of different colors.

“Hi. Thank you. We were hoping you could help us.” Katya took a step forward, her extended hand holding the phone in front of her. “Have you seen this girl before?”

Madam Luzon squinted her eyes, clearly pretending to take a better look of the image. “I don’t think I have, no. Is she in any trouble?”

“Not really.” Trixie shrugged nonchalantly. “Dead sure could be considered kinda troublesome, I guess. Very inconvenient, for sure.”

“Oh, geez.” Madam Luzon pressed a hand to her chest. “Poor girl, and so young. She had her whole life ahead of her.”

Katya wasn’t buying the performance, not for one second, but she decided to go along with it. She wanted to see how far this could go.

“We found your card at her place. Any idea how it got there?”

A hand was waved to dismiss Katya’s question. “If the kid was talented, I may have offered her a spot here at some point. I only hire the very best. She probably didn’t make the cut because, sadly, I don’t think I remember her.” The phone rang besides her, giving her enough excuse to end the meeting. “Why don’t you give Detox your phone number, I’ll let you know if we remember anything else. Or, I don’t know, maybe we could talk business.”

The conversation ended with a wink as she placed the phone to her ear. 

Walking out of the office felt like a defeat. They had gone in there with such hopes and came out with nothing. Katya still didn’t trust the crazy painter, whose eyes got crossed when looking at the phone. There was something off about her, but Katya couldn’t identify what it was. The last thing she needed was something else to nag at the back of the head. Her anxiety was already through the roof as it was.

Just like they were told, Katya provided her phone number to Detox, who wrote everything down in the computer.

“She offered you a job, didn’t she?” The receptionist asked, leaning forward on the tall desk in conspiracy. “You know, you and I could easily do some sister act. I wouldn’t mind getting freaky with you.”

Katya laughed. “Oh, believe me, I wouldn’t either. Maybe some other time?”

The smile thrown her way seemed to be enough for Detox, who then lifted her eyebrows in Trixie’s direction. “What about you? We have a beautiful doll house that would be perfect for you.”

Lacking Katya’s everflowing seductive skills, Trixie simply shook her head. “Right now, I’m just a little busy with the whole catching killers and all, maybe next time.”

“Ah, maybe next time,” Detox repeated. “You will come around for sure. Nobody says no to Manila Luzon.”

They thanked the girl for her time and left the building, Katya offered to dropped Trixie at her place, claiming she was pretty sure she remembered the way. Almost. If anything, Trixie could guide her around, but she didn’t. As soon as they got in the car, Trixie focused her sole attention on her phone, leaving Katya to figure out the directions by herself. 

Loud music came from the device. Katya tried to see what was playing on the phone but, every time she looked at Trixie, she encountered a long curtain of hair blocking her view. Trixie would make disapproving noises before closing a video and opening a new one. The scene was repeated a couple of times before Katya finally decided to ask.

“You really do hate when people have fun, huh?” She directed her attention to the passenger seat for a second, enough to see Trixie’s Instagram getting closed.

“It’s just my roommate, Kim,” she answered, putting the phone back in her purse. “She has people over and I don’t feel like dealing with them.”

“Why? Don’t you like them?” Katya asked without looking at her, her eyes set on the road in front of her.

Trixie scuffed softly. “I do, sorta. I mean, who doesn’t like to hang with beautiful fashion models that make you feel insecure as shit?”

Katya fully looked at her. “Oh, you are not being serious. Trixie, you are, like, one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life.”

With the corner of her eye she saw how Trixie shrugged, disregarding the topic. It wasn’t a typical sight. She hadn’t known Trixie for long, but she did know how much she liked her body. She was proud of her curves and knew exactly what to wear to highlight them. Her makeup abilities were something beyond Katya’s comprehension. She simply couldn’t understand how someone could literally transform the topography of her face just with brushes and beauty products. The most important part was, Trixie knew she was beautiful. More than once Katya had heard her replying with an ‘I know’ when someone complimented how good she looked. 

“You know?” Katya suddenly found herself asking. “It’s still kinda early, and my apartment is not far from here. It’s a bit of a mess, but at least it’s not filled with your friend’s friends. Wanna crash for a bit? At least until you know the coast is clear.”

Surprisingly, Trixie agreed and allowed Katya to drive them to her place.

Her apartment was small, and disorganized. Katya made sure to let Trixie know that as they walked up the stairs. She had been living there for a long time and was constantly moving the furniture from its place. Just to see how things would look, but usually gave up halfway through. That was the reason why, when they walked in, Trixe spotted a recliner in the kitchen, and the dining table sat right between the TV and the couch.

One thing that Trixie did find fascinating, was the type of art that adorned the walls. It was weird, bizarre even, but all the uncommon pieces somehow managed to perfectly represent Katya. There was even a series of pictures hanging on a thread from wall to wall, they were all famous paintings that had Katya’s face photoshopped into them. They were odd, and strange, and completely Katya.

“Sorry for the mess,” Katya apologized as she ran around the living room, picking up clothes that were spread around. “I don’t usually have visitors.” She carelessly threw everything in what seemed to be a closet and came back, her hands clapping nervously. “Do you want some coffee?”

Trixie had to chuckle. “If I drink coffee now I won’t be able to sleep at all.”

Katya brought her hand to rub at the back of her neck. “Right. Right. Well, I have tea as well. I think.”

“Really, I’m fine, thank you.”

They walked to the living room and sat on each end of the couch. There was silence for a moment, it wasn’t uncomfortable, it wasn’t tense, but Trixie felt like suffocating. There was something pressing on her chest, preventing her lungs from expanding properly, and she knew the only way to breathe again would be to talk. Since earlier that night, when Katya had opened up about her life, Trixie felt the need to do the same, but it was very unlike her. She could joke about her rough life all day long, but really talking about it wasn’t easy for her.

With a deep sigh, she prepared herself to let it out. She could only hope Katya would understand and appreciate what a huge step this was.

“Wanna–” A small cough cut her off, but she was determined to continue. “Wanna know why I entered the force?”

Katya nodded enthusiastically. “Always.”

“I’m from the deep country. I’m talking cows, and outhouses, and an hour drive just to reach the nearest McDonald's. I never met my dad, he bailed before I was even born. For a while, it was okay, but Mamma couldn’t really put bread on the table. So she married this guy who - he was okay, I guess, at first. He was a good provider. Then my sister was born and things turned ugly. Suddenly, I wasn’t his kid anymore, so he refused to treat me as such. He was drunk all the time, but, like, all the fucking time.” 

Her eyes closed as she pronounced those last words, memories of how things used to be filled her head. 

“He started hitting me, because I would misbehave; then my mom, ‘cause she couldn’t keep me in check. I couldn’t stand it. And there was nothing I could do. Standing up to him only meant making things worse. I got out as soon as I could, but I couldn’t help my mom. She had to wait until the bastard died of alcohol poisoning to be free. I don’t wish that on anybody. If I couldn’t help her, at least I can help others.”

All the words poured out of her at once, fearing that if she even took a second too long to pull air in, she would lose the courage to keep going. Katya didn’t say a thing, her mouth opened and her eyes had stopped blinking.

“Trixie, I–” she started.

“Don’t,” Trixie interrupted her. “You don’t have to say anything.”

“No, no, I want to.” 

In a fast move, Katya was right in front of her. A soft hand landed on Trixie’s cheek and that was when she realized she was crying. Katya’s touch was delicate, Trixie couldn’t help but close her eyes and leaned into the warmth of Katya’s palm.

“You are so brave,” Katya said, forcing Trixie to open her eyes. “Not a lot of people have it in them to get out of shitty situations. Hell, even I love to go even deeper into my shit. But you… you are such an amazing woman. You are strong and smart and-and funny and I am so fucking proud of you. Knowing that you went through all of that only makes you even more of a badass, if you ask me.”

Trixie laughed tearily. “I wasn’t asking, really.”

A light chuckle left Katya’s lips but she didn’t say anything back. She simply kept rubbing soft circles on Trixie’s cheek with her thumb. The makeup was probably going to be ruined, if not by the touch, from all the crying, but Trixie didn’t really care at this point.

“That’s why this case became such a big deal, I guess.” Trixie hadn’t even considered it until the thought left her lips. “That could’ve been me, you know? One wrong decision and I could’ve ended up like those girls.” An abrupt sob cut through her throat and, before she knew it, she was crying uncontrollably in Katya’s arms.

It could have been a few minutes, it could have been hours, days even. Trixie felt like she had cried every emotion she held inside her. It was a freeing feeling. Soon, she was able to pull air back in without choking.

When she noticed Trixie was breathing normally, Katya pulled away a little to look into her eyes. “You feeling better?” A small nod answered her question. “You are not those girls, okay? And he’s not going to be on the loose for long. We are going to catch this guy.”

Trixie looked at her with big, pleading eyes. Her face had softened to a point that Katya couldn’t stop herself.

“Can I… just… I need to…” 

She didn’t have to ask for permission, not really, because as she started to lean forward, Trixie closed her eyes. Katya kissed her right eye, tasting salt and glitter.

“We are gonna catch him,” she promised before moving to the left eye. “I’m gonna do it…” There was a kiss on the nose. “For you.” And then their lips found each other.

The kiss was slow and cautious. Lips smoothly wrapped around each other. They right away initiated a rhythm that allowed their movements and breathing to balance out perfectly. As their mouths explored one another, hands started to roam across their bodies. Trixie placed her hand on Katya’s nape, pulling her closer. Katya had a hand lost between the curls of Trixie’s hair, and the other one rested on Trixie’s thigh.

It was intimate, it was soft, and it was getting hotter by the minute.

It took one quick move for Katya to be sitting on Trixie’s lap. Each of her legs straddled Trixie’s as the kissing became deeper and deeper. Trixie’s hands found their way to Katya’s ass, and she pushed her slightly, starting a rocking motion. Katya didn’t complain, the complete opposite, she liked how Trixie was taking the lead. The feeling of Trixie’s hands kneading her flesh, mixed with the slow movement of her hips, had her already turned on beyond herself.

Katya quickened the pace. She lifted her hips and her hands went down to pull up her own skirt. She needed as much contact as possible. Their lips parted, giving room for moans and whimpers to fly freely. Among the noises of building pleasure filling the apartment, a cell phone brought everything to a halt.

Trying to catch her breath, Katya pressed her forehead against Trixie’s. Their stares met. Katya gave her a moment, trying to figure out if the interruption was enough to break the charm, and make Trixie regret what they were doing.

“Yours or mine?” Katya asked with a side smile.

“Mine is right here,” Trixie said, tapping her pocket before stealing a quick kiss.

With a grunt, Katya stood up and followed the sound to the front door, where she had dropped her purse when they walked in. The screen was still lit when she pulled it out, but the device wasn’t ringing anymore. Ginger’s nickname appeared under the label of missed calls. She stared at it for a moment, pondering what to do. If it had been an emergency, the phone would have rang again by now, or at least that was the excuse Katya gave herself to not return the call. Ginger probably just wanted to catch up. Katya missed her friend, but she had a turned on goddess on her couch. The dilemma answered itself.

Katya sent a quick message indicating she couldn’t talk at the moment, with the promise to ring Ginger in the morning. She stuffed the phone back into her purse and practically ran back to the living room. The short period was enough for her to find it empty. She looked around frantically, but Trixie was nowhere to be found. She couldn’t have left, she was right there just a moment ago, and Katya had been standing by the front door.

A muffled sound came from the bedroom, Katya made her way there and found Trixie. She had thrown to the floor all the crap that Katya had left on the bed, and was already pulling her dress above her head.

No more time was lost. They helped each other out of their clothes and stumbled on the bed. They continued to kiss as fingers rolled nipples and nails scratched backs. It was primitive, it was urgent, it was extremely hot. Katya could feel every inch of her skin burning in desire, and the flames would quench only by the touch of Trixie’s hands.

Katya’s back landed on the mattress, Trixie lied on top of her, settled between her opened legs. She took a nipple between her teeth and Katya’s back arched to the touch. It was worlds apart from the first time they had done it. Trixie was running her tongue on Katya’s breasts, giving both equal amount of attention.

“Thank you,” Trixie spoke against her skin. “Thank you for understanding.” Her head then moved up, facing Katya completely. “Thank you for being such an amazing partner.”

“It’s my absolute pleasure, Barbie doll.”

She held Trixie’s face in her hands, making sure she didn’t lose eye contact as their hips started to move again. They started pressing against each other, rubbing their more intimate areas with fervor. Katya knew it was physically impossible, but the position made her feel as if Trixie were actually thrusting hard inside of her. With every push of Trixie’s hips against hers, Katya’s walls clenched around nothing.

They moved faster and faster, the rhythm becoming erratic as each of them got closer to their own orgasm.

It took one of Trixie’s high pitched moans to send Katya over the edge. She saw white flashes in front of her eyes as waves of earth-shattering pleasure hit her relentlessly. In the high of her ecstasy was that everything suddenly became clear.

“Oh, my God. I know who did it!”


	5. Yellow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next were supposed to be one, so they are going to be slightly shorter than the rest.

**Chapter 5 - Yellow.**

“Are you completely sure?” Sergeant Haylock’s doubtful voice traveled through the speaker of the phone, perched on top of a pile of boxes.

“One million percent,” Katya assured him, her words sounding shaky to her own ears. It was infuriating how she couldn’t even trust her own voice. She hoped it didn’t give away how nervous she was, because she was nervous, anxious, excited, but, above everything, she was sure. That was the message she needed to deliver.

It seemed to work, because the sergeant didn’t ask any further. “Okay. I’ll send the team. Captain Charles is getting the warrant. I really hope you are right, Zamo, or you will be in some deep shit. I’ll meet you at the precinct as soon as we are done.”

Trixie watched as Katya paced the small space of the cold cases room, her fingers tangling in the hair at the top of her head, pulling at the blonde curls absentmindedly. The slight tugging of her scalp seemed to provide some sort of stress relief, one that sucked her into an evident trance. She wouldn’t even look up. Her mind was deep in thought.

“We are already here!” Trixie replied for her, loud enough so the sergeant could hear her.

Roy sighed. “Alright, alright. We are on the move. Get everything ready for interrogation; we will get there as soon as the judge approves the arrest. You are waking up half of LA because of this, my husband is already pissed, so this better be good.”

The line went silent after that, indicating that the call had ended. Trixie watched the light dim and then completely disappear as the phone locked itself. There was nothing left to do but wait. 

Katya was still walking rapidly from side to side, her fingers were still pulling her hair, her stare was still glued to the floor. Her anxious state manifested itself in the complete opposite way from Trixie’s. She sat on the folding bed, her legs crossed in a miserable attempt of a lotus position. She was picking at the skin of her fingers, painfully pulling at thick hangnails. A part of Trixie knew she was shutting down, but the energy that Katya had bouncing all around them kept her alert, preventing her from spiraling herself, if only for the sake of keeping an eye on her partner.

Suddenly, a thought hit her. “Did Roy say husband?” Trixie asked in surprise.

Katya didn’t stop pacing, but she did look at Trixie. “What? Oh. Yeah. You didn’t know he was married?”

“I didn’t know he was gay.” Trixie’s voice came out steady, with no harm or judgement in it, simply stating the fact.

As Katya looked at her with her mouth slightly opened, asking her if she was kidding, Trixie analyzed the little information she had on her sergeant. Her mind took her back to pay extra attention to the conversations they had shared. Laughter was a constant and insulting words being thrown at each other, with no harm whatsoever, was another. The topic of significant others had never been brought up, and she hadn’t asked. She had spent so much time engrossed in the case that she never really stopped to get to know her coworkers. Except for her own partner, probably, who was such a character by herself that Trixie had no room in her mind to solve both the case and the mystery of Katya.

“This is the most open-minded precinct in _herstory_; and we are super proud of it.” Katya’s words made Trixie return her attention to her. “You know I’m your everyday run-of-the-mill bisexual hooker,” she said as her hands pointed at herself in demostration. “Violet is a big fat lesbian. I mean, not fat, you could never have Violet’s name and the word fat in the same sentence. You get what I mean. Jasmine, she just likes people; she sees hearts not genitals. Kasha was married to a guy for years, now she’s married to a pretty nice woman who adores her.” She made a pause, her mind not having the energy to go through all the people that worked with them. “Well, you know about Roy now and Captain Charles is also married.”

“I did know that,” Trixie intervened. “I know he’s gone through a lot.”

RuPaul Charles was a renowned name in the field, his life story was well known and his reputation was highly respected. He was one of the first gay cops to successed back in the nineties. He wasn’t just opened about his sexuality, he embraced it and took the chance to inspire other law enforcers to do the same. He worked hard and climbed the ladder, despite all the struggles that a gay man of color was unnecessarily put through. 

Katya agreed with Trixie. “He has! And he wants that to change, make a difference so other people can have an easier path. There’s, you know, that youth program he has for baby gays. I know he had, like, umm, kind of AA meetings for gay people within the police department. He’s doing great so far. He’s very smart and knows how to use the rainbow flag to help others. You know why we have some of the highest numbers in the whole state?” 

Trixie didn’t know the answer, so she didn’t even try to guess. She shook her head as she stood up, her legs tingled as blood fought to keep on running in the awkward position. Her face contorted as millions of ants figuratively filled her veins at once.

“Lesbians!” Katya said proudly. The sudden clap of her hands made Trixie jump. “Lesbians get shit done.” Her fingers snapped to the rhythm of her words to accentuate them. “That’s why he’s made it his mission to slowly transfer all the queer women in the district into his team.”

Something didn’t quite click, and Trixie was sure it showed in her facial expression. “He wanted to interview me before giving me the job, he said I would fit right in.” She let out almost without realizing, the words leaving her mouth as the thought sunk in for the first time. “Could he have gotten some gay vibes from me?”

“I mean,” Katya said, her hands extended in front of herself and her lips formed a thin line. There was something secretive in her voice. Her tone almost begged Trixie not to force her to actually say the words. “Is he wrong?” The question didn’t give any room for Trixie to reply, it was rhetorical, it verged on sarcastic.

There was a huge chance those accusations were only in Trixie’s mind. She was the one twisting Katya’s words. She was the one that wanted to figure out if the captain was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t wrong, and the real reason why he hired her was because he knew. He had known her truth even before Trixie knew it herself, before she had even allowed her thoughts to go down that road.

Trixie’s eyes couldn’t focus on anything for more than a second. She shook her head, a fog of realization clouding her every thought. “But, I’m not gay, though.”

She didn’t know if the room was spinning around her, if she was the one spiraling down to the ground, or if Trixie’s brain was making her dizzy beyond belief. Her knees gave out a bit and she planted her palms on the dusty table in front of her.

“Oh, Momma.” Katya spoke from behind her. Her voice was almost condescending, but she wasn’t mocking her. She let the words out in a soft exhale, as if she were talking to a small child. “You don’t have to label yourself.” Her hands landed on Trixie’s shoulders, applying a little pressure as they ran down her arms. “I considered myself _heteroflexible_ for the longest time.”

It was working. Trixie could feel herself landing back into the room, her mind anchoring to the gentle touch of Katya’s warm hands. Hands that were by then circling her waist.

“And, if you need to do some more exploring,” Katya spoke to her ear, hot breath hitting her neck. “You know where to find me.” Katya’s flat hands pushed just below her belly button, right on Trixie’s pelvic area, making her wince. She wondered if Katya’s bones hurt as much as hers, for all the friction from their activities of earlier that night. Trixie was incredibly sore, and she had a lot more flesh in that area than Katya. Involuntarily, her hips pushed back, her ass finding Katya’s crotch, who didn’t even flinch. 

A small chuckle left Katya’s mouth, and her smiling lips pressed a kiss to Trixie’s cheek. “You’ll be fine. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

And with that, all contact was gone. Katya turned around and left the room, leaving Trixie alone, slightly turned on and very confused.

Trixie didn’t follow her. The thoughts running in and out of her head wouldn’t allow her brain to connect with the rest of her body. Her feet were heavy, preventing her from walking. She felt hot in the pit of her stomach and between her legs, both providing extremely different sensations, overloading her system, which threatened to crash at any second.

She sat back down on the bed, her head falling to her hands heavily.

Had she been lying to herself?

Did people see things in her that she never spotted herself?

Trixie played with the hem of her dress, the same dress that she had picked to impress Katya. She could admit as much by then, sitting there by herself in Katya’s private space. When she picked her clothes for the night, Trixie hadn’t really thought about it, but it had always been at the back of her mind. As she went through her many dresses, Katya’s possible opinions on the outfit had been the decisive factor. 

She knew she liked Katya, she liked her a lot; the actual definition of that feeling was yet to be determined. Still, that didn’t mean she liked all women, just this one. Katya, if anything, was the exception to every rule. She was an enigma, yet an open book to whoever was willing to read. Trixie often felt like she was finally able to capture a page of that book but, just when she got close enough, the information was written in a mysterious language that she couldn’t fully understand. Katya’s complex personality was divided in different volumes. It could be discouraging, Trixie could very easily close the book, place it on the highest shelf, and never look at it again. That wasn’t the case. She was determined to crack the code, to understand the alien language and let the reality of Katya to sink in completely.

Maybe what she had identified as attraction was actually a challenge. It was the need to get closer to that intricate human and understand how someone who was so excited about living life to the fullest could, at the same time, be so filled with anxiety while doing it.

The fact that they had found an amazing sexual synchrony was really nothing more than a coincidence. Yet again, Trixie had nothing to compare it to. She had never even tried to explore her sexuality in that way. She had always assumed she was straight, because that’s what she was taught to be. As far as she knew she liked men, and men liked her. It had been like that during her entire life. The thought of maybe being attracted to another girl never did as much as cross her mind. If she had known that having sex with a woman was such a journey, she may had tried it before. Although, she wondered if that sexy roller coaster of sensations was caused by Katya and Katya alone.

So that was it. Trixie had no issues with her sexuality. She had simply become infatuated with her co-worker because of her bedroom skills. All she needed to do was put some distance between them and the feeling would eventually go away. Trixie could do that easily, not immediately, though; they still needed to work together to close the case, but right after that, things were going to chance. It was settled, she could go back to work without having to worry about that just yet.

Even when Trixie hadn’t asked where the interrogation was going to take place, she knew. She walked straight to the last room on the left, the one with the strongest air conditioner. She entered the side cabin, expecting to find Katya there, waiting for the suspect, but it was empty.

On the other side of the tinted glass, Katya sat on the table, her hands moving around her exaggeratedly. 

Smiling at the scene playing in front of her, Trixie pressed a button on the intercom, which allowed her to hear what happened in the interrogation area.

“...gonna kick you right in the pussy,” Katya said in faked anger. “And I’m gonna... I will find your dad. He is going to take a toaster bath and-and perish.” She stood up, her closed hands hitting the table as she leaned closer to the nonexistent criminal. “Ooh, and your mom, she’s gonna go somewhere…” Suddenly, her shoulders dropped, ending her whole intimidating act. “She’s gonna be fine. She’s gonna be on vacation. The Galapagos, maybe.”

Only then did Trixie realize her cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. There was something so interminably endearing about Katya, about the way she carried herself, about her vision of logic. 

The little skit had been idiotic, childish even, but so loaded with passion and determination. It was a necessary step in the peculiar thought process that didn’t make sense outside of Katya’s own head. Instead of being annoyed or feeling excluded, as Trixie had felt the couple of weeks she had been working with Katya, she was now happy to at least be able to see the magic happen. 

Trixie wanted to jump through the window and give Katya a tight hug. Trixie had never been a hugger, though. Physical contact had been a sensitive subject for her since years ago, yet there she was, wishing she could take Katya in her arms and kiss those silly lips that projected strings of nonsense more often than not.

Her eyes closed as Trixie remembered her resolution from just a few minutes ago. Those thoughts had to stop. At least she was able to identify them now. That was a win. Also, she wasn’t supposed to put her plan into motion until after the case was closed. She still had some time.

The phone vibrated against the metallic table, the buzzing sounded a lot louder inside the quiet room, making Katya jump.

“Jesus Christ!”

She brought a hand to her chest, a fruitless attempt to keep her heart from beating hard against her ribcage. Her other hand picked up the phone, reading the message on the lockscreen and freezing in place. Katya had heard the saying many times, people expressing how their blood went all the way down to their ankles, but she had never experienced the shock herself. It was a cold sensation that ran from the top of her head all the way down to the sole of her feet; and she felt colder and colder with each time she read the same message again.

They had gotten the warrant, the arrest had been done, and they were on their way back to the precinct.

A tap on the glass made Katya look up. She knew Trixie was on the other side, she just knew. She had developed a way to sense when Trixie was near her. That sensation was warm enough to incite her blood to run normally again. It allowed her limbs to function properly and unfreeze her from her spot. Katya made her way to the adjacent room with that thought in her mind. She truly had been lucky to be paired up to work with Trixie. Granted, at thirty-two years old, Katya hadn’t really had all that many partners in her life. She entered the force in her mid-twenties, and other than a short period with Kasha, Katya had always worked with Ginger. Both of her co-workers were incredibly helpful when channeling Katya’s energy and had understood the way her mind worked. They had taken their time to do so. Trixie just got her, right away. 

As soon as Katya pushed the door open, Trixie was already by her side.

“How are you? Are you okay?” The sincerity in her eyes made the warm feeling spread across Katya’s chest.

Katya’s foot tapped against the floor, as her arms wrapped around her own torso. “Yeah. I’m just anxious. I can’t screw this up, Trixie. I can’t.”

She wanted to explain all the reasons why this was such a big deal for her. In her mind, she was listing the infinite consequences of taking a wrong turn. Her brain was telling her to yell, from the bottom of her lungs, the importance of making things right. There was no need to. It had been quite sometime since words started to be obsolete, and some sort of telepathic communication was installed between the two of them.

“And you won’t,” Trixie assured her. 

Trixie’s hands moved to rest on Katya’s shoulders, the weight forced her arms to untangle and her hands fell to her sides. Trixie’s hands travelled down to hold Katya’s, she gave them a little squeeze with a small smile dancing on her lips.

“Thank you,” Katya said genuinely. She didn't know why or what she was thanking Trixie for, but she didn’t have to, because the light nod she got in return was all the answer that she needed.

“Of course,” Trixie replied with the shrug of a shoulder. “You’ve got this. Now you only need to get the confession out of this freak. Do you want to keep on practicing? You can tell me where you are planning to send all my family members to.”

Katya burst out laughing, most people would pretend they didn’t overheard a private moment like this one. Not Trixie, though. Quickly, Katya realized it wasn’t a bad thing to share one more aspect of her preparation with Trixie. She liked to believe she was some sort of movie character, intimidating the suspect just by the tone of her voice and, if that wasn’t enough, she had to master some threatening talk. At the end of the day, she knew none of that was going to be needed, because she had the power of the law by her side. All the facts had been aligned for her to see things clearly, there was no doubt in her mind.

That was the reason why, when Manila Luzon was finally brought in for interrogation, in a hideous yellow dress, Katya knew the owner of the sex house had no way out.

Katya walked into the room alone, like they had agreed, like Trixie had insisted. That was Katya’s case, she had worked it for months, and had finally connected all the dots to solve it. Trixie had done nothing but orgasm her into clarity.

Both knew that wasn’t precisely true, Trixie had done a hell of a lot more than that. Nonetheless, the arguments were funny enough to make Katya agree to go by herself. If she struggled with anything, Katya could always flip a pen and Trixie would know she was needed inside. The secret signal was nothing but an emergency exit, one that Trixie knew wasn’t going to be used.

Her heels sounded strong and loud, and Katya already felt so much better as she made her way to Madam Luzon. It was hard to take the lady seriously. With the feathers covering her body and the messed up hair, she looked more like a Sesame Street character than the ruthless dominatrix they knew she was, than the cold blooded killer they knew she was.

A heavy folder was dropped on the table. Right after, Katya, very slowly and very loudly, pulled the metallic chair out to take a seat. She knew the file contained nothing but props and visual aids to help her in the interrogation. All the information of the case, she could recite in all five languages that she spoke, without a problem.

“I knew we would see each other again,” Madam Luzon smiled wickedly. “I told you so.”

Katya placed her elbows on the table. “Yep, yep. You certainly did.”

Without dropping the smile, Manila let herself fall against the back of her chair. “Although, I thought it was a different type of business we would be talking about.”

They studied each other for a second, eyes scanning and minds processing; both asserting the situation from their corners.

“That is fascinating to me.” The words left Katya’s mouth in a genuine tone. She couldn’t comprehend how the woman in front of her, about to be charged for the murder of seven young ladies, could be so cool and collected. “Do you even know why we brought you here?” Katya asked, her chin resting on her fist.

A huff escaped Manila, the yellow feathers on her fascinator dancing with the air of her breath. “Yes, girl, a misunderstanding. I don’t see any other reason.”

Katya opened the file, the image on top was of the first crime scene. She took it out and placed it in front of Manila. “Recognize this girl?” A head shake answered her question, so she pulled the next one. “What about her?” The procedure was repeated until all of the victims, in their perfectly done marionette makeup and their limbs pulled up by strings, were placed on the table. “Are you sure you don’t know any of these girls?”

Manila leaned forward, glancing at the gruesome images without a flinch. “I’m telling you, I have no idea who they are, or… were, rather.”

It was almost laughable. Katya popped her tongue loudly in an attempt to stop the giggle bubbling inside her. “See? That’s where you lose me.” She shook her head in mocked disappointment. “I don’t believe you. You… are telling me… that Madam Manila Luzon, the queen of all things sexy in this town,” Katya said with a shimmy of her shoulders and a smile on her face, still finding the sick humor in the whole situation. “Was clueless about what went on in the streets? Come on. You surely have people everywhere, keeping an eye on the competition.”

Manila didn’t have the same amount of self-control as Katya, she laughed openly and loudly. “They couldn’t beat me even if they’d tried. Seriously, look at them, they are babies. Every now and again a new group of girls comes to town and tries their luck. Those girls don’t know what they have to compete against. I don’t even want to count, but enough years have gone by where I’ve been working in this field, I can tell who is gonna make it and who isn’t.”

“And you recruit only the best, don’t you?”

The question took Manila by surprise. “This has absolutely nothing to do with my team.”

Katya’s index finger pointed straight at Manila’s face. “That’s not true, though. It has _everything_ to do with your, umm, HR department, if we may.” Katya’s hand waved between the two, as it did when she had a hard time finding the right words. “Can I share my theory with you? Ooh, it’s a pretty fun one, you are gonna love it. I’m excited to tell it, can I tell it?”

A twist of Manila’s lips was enough of an authorization to proceed.

“You see, these girls, oh, they were good. They were really good. As I’ve been told, you have a very eccentric set of clients. What happens when those clients find a way to scratch their itch somewhere else?” Katya put her hand up. “Don’t answer that, don’t answer that. I wanna tell you.” She stood up, the back of her legs pushing the chair back, her palms landing flat on the table. “You find these uber talented girls and offer them a spot in your oh-so-prestigious team. Here’s the thing, though.” Her hand fanned on top of the pictures, pointing at the victims. “None of them wanted to work for you, and you are not very fond of rejection, now, are you?”

Manila crossed her arms on top of her chest, creating a physical barrier to protect herself from the accusations. “You have no evidence to connect me to those murders.”

Katya walked around the table, her head held up high, a sensation of victory embracing her body. She dared a glance to the one-sided glass, knowing her team was there watching her, knowing that Trixie was behind that mirror, rooting for her.

“I’ve spent months, months, trying to find The Puppeteer.” Katya placed her hands on the back of Manila’s chair. “That’s your nickname, by the way. It’s a pretty cool one, huh?” She then stretched her back and started walking again. “I just couldn’t understand why a man would do any of that. How could a man have such attention to details? What could be the reason for a guy to turn beautiful young ladies into even more beautiful dolls?” 

Words flowed from her lips like cigarette smoke, directed to no one in particular but filling the air around them. 

“I just couldn’t understand. Wanna know why?” Once again she shook her hand, indicating she didn’t really need an answer. “Because it wasn’t a man!” Her hands went theatrically up in the air. “And I call myself a supporter of women. They should revoke my feminist license. Women can be murderers too! We have the passion, we have the brains, we have the concentration. Some of us even have real life size doll houses where we can put our puppets in, and play with them when we wish to, even if they don’t want to.” She made a dramatic pause, leaning right in front of Manila’s face. “Because nobody says no to Manila Luzon.”

For a moment, Manila’s eyes looked wider. For a fraction of a second Katya could see how the overly confident Madam Luzon was chipping away. They looked into each other’s eyes. The stare battle was broken when Katya looked down, eyeing the colorful freckles on Manila’s hands.

“If we test the paint on your hands, I’m sure it will be a perfect match to the paint of the victims. Or am I wrong?”

Pushing her chin up, and pressing her lips into a thin line, Manila finally gave up.

“I want a lawyer.”


	6. Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, congratulations! You’ve made it past the first half of the story.  
Now, some things have been brought to my attention and I’d like to remind you that, even when this ended up having close to no resemblance to b99, it is supposed to be a story based on the premise of the show. Cases and personal issues are meant to be solved easily and in rather unusual ways. I am aware that this is a “cops story” so a little bit of drama and action are expected. I’d like to think that this fic stands right in the middle of everything I just mentioned, this particular chapter specifically. My rambling will soon make sense lol  
As always, thank you so, so much for reading!  
-Monkey

**Chapter 6 - Black**

The trial was long, and exhausting. By the end of the month, Katya felt drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Katya, and Trixie —and the entire squad— knew there was enough evidence to put Manila Luzon in jail for the rest of her days. The tricky part was the shark of a lawyer that she hired. Katya had worked with Courtney Act many times in the past. She was an attorney assigned to many of the crimes Katya had solved. They were an amazing team that could easily put a case together and throw a criminal behind bars. It didn’t make sense for Courtney to be representing the defendant instead of working towards locking her up. Knowing that Courtney was trying to keep Manila from going to prison, made Katya wonder if they were wrong. Money couldn’t be the reason, she was not that type of lawyer. Courtney’s moral compass was never compromised, she only assisted the innocent; and Manila Luzon couldn’t possibly be innocent.

Going against a friend only added more stress to the situation, to the point where Katya felt close to giving up many times. Courtney knew her, and knew her well. Through the many years working together, they had developed an instinct to predict each other’s actions. It had been a strength, they had been unstoppable in the courthouse. Now, it was a weakness, it was an issue for Katya. Courtney could pretty much read Katya’s mind and go a step ahead of her thinking process. It wasn’t a nice feeling.

All the anxiety played with Katya’s head. She hated how words would stumble with themselves when they tried to leave her mouth. Even when she knew exactly what she wanted to say, her thoughts would crash against one another and come out sounding like nothing but mumble jumble.

There was one single person helping her to keep it together. _Trixie_. Trixie, with her light sense of humor and unshakable confidence, became the point of balance Katya needed to work the case. If Katya felt Courtney and her vibed in the same wavelength; Trixie and Katya’s hearts beat at the same rhythm. It was something Katya had noticed early on. Since the moment they started finishing each other’s sentences, she knew they shared some sort of unspoken understanding that carried them through the same twisted train of thought. It wasn’t unusual for them to turn a regular conversation into something dark, sarcastic, and insanely funny. Most of the times, their rotted remarks were funny just to them, leaving everyone else in the room excluded from the joke; and they were okay with that.

Katya was completely aware of the spark between them. She kept chalking it up to other things, though. The good days, to their shared sense of humor; and the bad days, to the amount of stress they were going through together. Anything other than actual feelings, worked. She was also aware that the last time she had sex had been with Trixie, yet again, that didn’t mean much. The fact that Katya hadn’t hooked up with anybody else after Trixie, had a lot more to do with lack of time than anything else. At least that’s what she told herself to stay sane.

Violet had commented on it, pointed out how Katya hadn’t brought up any sexual extravaganza in a long time. Just as she had promised, Katya didn’t tell anybody about the encounters she had with her fellow detective, but Violet could see right through her. Violet was the first one to notice how Katya’s face fell when Trixie mentioned having a date, even before Katya did it herself. She brushed it off with a joke, but was extra careful with her facial expressions when a different guy was mentioned the following week. 

None of that really mattered when the head of the jury pronounced the words they had so eagerly been waiting for. Manila Luzon was found guilty for the death of all seven young women and given a life sentence for each of the killings.

The excitement was such that it brought tears to Katya’s eyes. She jumped and screamed and cursed out loud when the news was delivered to her. After hugging everybody within arms reach, she went to the cold cases room and cried. A wave of emotions hit her at once and she allowed it. Every single one of those emotions burned deep inside her stomach, and she let them. After feeling too much, all at once, for too long, there was finally freedom. She had done it. She had closed her one unsolved case. Her fears were put to rest, at least the ones that constantly told her she wasn’t good at her job. She could breathe again. It was almost as if she hadn’t noticed the constant pressure in her chest until it was released. 

It surprised nobody but Katya when Captain Charles approached her with an idea. He wanted her to take the sergeant exam. 

Deep inside her, she knew she could do it. Any doubt in her head about her abilities had just vanished, she had momentum, there was no logical reason to decline the offer. So, she sent in an application. In her mind, her twisted excitement for anything that would give her results, was the only excuse to finally agree. In her heart, she needed one more confirmation that she was indeed meant to do this.

The board was going to take a few weeks to get back to her, review her case and see if she was even eligible to take the exam. In the meantime, they had a victory to celebrate. The whole precinct had been invited to the usual bar that Friday night, it had been a team effort, after all.

Katya promised to pick Trixie up, and she waited for Katya outside her apartment building. Trixie wore a similar dress to the one she had on the night they met. Coming back to the place where it all started felt somewhat important; replicating some aspects of it, even if it was just the way she was dressed, seemed important to Trixie. She was sure Katya didn’t share the same thoughts, and Trixie wanted to believe she was okay with it. She had always been extremely sentimental about these things, anyways. She had stubs from the first concert she ever attended, she kept a napkin from the date she had with her high school crush, even the wrapper of the piece of gum her best friend offered her the day they met. She held on to things that brought her back, that carried nice feelings. Katya didn’t seem like that type. She was such a free spirit, surely she didn’t have a box of crap under her bed, tying her down to the past.

The freedom of her being was confirmed when a black car stopped right in front of Trixie. Katya’s top half stuck out of the window of the passenger seat. The wind messed with her hair as she laughed happily.

“Get in, loser, we are going partying!”

Trixie shook her head, a wide smile dancing on her lips, as she extended her hand to reach for the back door.

“No, get in the front.” 

Without waiting for an answer, Katya pulled herself back inside the car and jumped to the back. Her ass wiggled inside the tight skirt as she tried to make her way between the front seats. Exaggerated grunts left her mouth as she pretended to have a hard time doing so. It was clearly an act, there was no way her flexible body could be giving her any trouble.

Trixie was still laughing when she sat on the passenger seat. “Was that a Mean Girls reference?” she asked Katya, without looking back, her eyes cast down as she found the buckle of the seatbelt.

“That would be impossible, I’ve never watched that movie,” Katya answered as the car started moving. Her voice sounded far, almost as if her head were somewhere near the floor of the vehicle.

“What?!” Trixie asked in shock. “Are you for real?” She turned her head to face the backseat. Just as she had pictured it, Katya was lying face down, probably trying to reach for something she had dropped. In an attempt to get an accomplice, Trixie turned to the driver. “Can you believe this bitch?”

“I actually haven’t watched it either,” the man replied. His eyes were directed to the road ahead of them, but a smile made way to his lips. “At least not all of it. I’ve seen pieces, though.”

“Oh, wow!” Trixie didn’t know what shocked her the most; the fact that she was in a car with two people that had never watched Mean Girls, or the deep voice of the driver.

“So, to answer your question, I guess I can believe this bitch,” he continued.

Katya’s laughter was heard, and something that sounded a lot like ‘rotted’ left her mouth between wheezing sounds.

Trixie stared at him in shock for a moment. He was funny, and handsome, sexy even. His look seemed to come straight out of a seventies’ porno, with his salt and pepper mustache, and the top buttons of his shirt wide opened. The tone of his voice was so low and so… sensual. Trixie was right away fixated by him.

“You have a great, like, radio voice,” she thought out loud. “Do you get that a lot?”

The driver’s laughter was even more mesmerizing. “I do quite a lot, actually.” He looked at her, the side smile making him look even sexier. “I take it as a compliment. I appreciate it. Thank you.”

“Oh, definitely, definitely,” Trixie assured him. She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking for half a second before speaking, something that she had just recently started trying. “Can I ask you something weird that may be offensive?”

“Please do, those are my favorite kind of questions.” Weirdly, he meant that. There was not a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

“Are you gay?”

Up until that moment, Katya had been relatively quiet in the backseat. Her screeching laugh sounded loud and clear inside of the small car. Her arms and legs kicked up in the air as she fell on her back completely.

Trixie’s eyes, filled with confusion, travelled between the girl flopping like a fish out of water, and the driver smiling softly behind the wheel. “What? What?”

“Nothing,” the guy spoke evenly, a complete contrast to the dying foghorn in the backseat. “That’s just another thing that I get pretty often.”

“Oh, yeah, I can totally see it,” Trixie agreed. “You have, like, that daddy’s voice that I’m sure a lot of gay guys find attractive.”

“A lot of gay guys and young women too,” he said.

Trixie nodded her head. “It must have something to do with daddy issues, don’t you think?”

He hummed an approval. “Had never seen it that way, but thanks for the analysis. I now have something to think about.”

Katya slapped the back of his seat, apparently oblivious to the conversation taking place. “Hey, hey, are you gay?” She pronounced the words in a girly, sing-song voice, which immediately elicited loud laughter from the driver.

“Oh, God! I can’t believe I almost forgot about that.”

“I always like to know if a guy is gay,” Katya continued with her put on voice, before another giggle attack hit her.

The man turned to Trixie, a look close to apologetic filling his features. “You see, there’s this awful film that Katya and I used to watch–”

“Wait, what?” Trixie interrupted him. “You know each other?”

“Of course, bitch.” Katya poked her head between them. “This is my friend Craig! He lives across the hall from me. I talk about him all the time!”

Trixie was sure her jaw was somewhere near the floor by that point. “No, you don’t!”

“Yes, I do,” Katya retorded. “Who the fuck did you think he was then?”

“I-I don’t know,” Trixie looked confused. “You were in the passenger seat of a strange car, I thought you had gotten us an Uber,” she confessed, provoking loud laughter from the two people to her left. “I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“You weren’t at all. Don’t worry about it.” Craig, once again, sounded sincere. “I’m actually the one that’s sorry Katya didn’t warn you I was coming. Now it feels like I’m just crashing your party.”

“No, no. You are totally fine. Hi, I’m Trixie.” If introducing herself after spending, like, twenty minutes in the car with this guy wasn’t lame enough, since she couldn’t precisely shake his hand, Trixie awkwardly waved her hand in front of his face. He surely thought she was a lost case, by that point.

Craig didn’t seem to judge her, though. Leaving one hand on the wheel, his free hand imitated hers and, suddenly, all that Trixie saw was black nails going up and down in front of her eyes. “Pleasure to meet you, Trixie, I’m Craig. It’s actually nice to finally meet you.”

“Oh, my God, Craig. Tell her how we met!” Katya bounced on her seat, excited to once again hear the story herself.

He didn’t object and complied with her request right away. “I collect porn movies,” he let out so easily, causing a gasp to escape a surprised Trixie. It was probably an expected reaction because both Katya and Craig laughed before he continued. “I buy a lot of VHS movies and turn them into digital format. I guess the volume was too loud when I was checking the conversion of a particular movie. Katya came banging on my door–”

“Right in the middle of the night,” Katya butted in.

“Right, right.” Craig chuckled. “She banged on my door, right in the middle of the night, screaming: okay, you horny fucks, either you tone it down or let me in.”

The car filled with loud laughter, and the rest of the ride was made sharing stories of Katya being inappropriate.

“You know,” Craig turned to Trixie after a while. “You are more than welcome to see my movie collection. It’s massive, and it’s not just pornos.”

Luckily, his last words were spoken as he parked at the bar, giving a fast end to what was about to become an awkward conversation. Trixie simply laughed, pronouncing some sort of vague agreement, before they stepped down from the car.

It was still early in the night, the bar had most of the lights turned on and played soft music as background when they walked in.

Craig placed a hand on Katya’s arm. “I’m gonna get us something to drink, would you like a Georgia Peach Coca Cola, if they have them?”

Katya’s eyes threatened to fall out of their sockets. “I will literally give you a hand job, right here, right now, if you find one.”

He laughed shortly, his head shaking in amusement. “I’ll keep that in mind, although, it won’t be necessary.” He then turned to Trixie, with the side smile pasted on his lips again. “Anything for you? Vodka soda, maybe? Or perhaps something stronger like whisky or gin?”

Trixie took a second from inspecting his chest hair to find his eyes. “Oh, I love gin.”

“Gin and tonic, coming right up.” And with that he was gone.

Both girls watched his shirt shining under the fluorescent lights of the club until he was out of sight.

“Isn’t he amazing?” Katya asked excitedly. A serious look took over her features as she pointed her index finger to Trixie’s face. “He’s my best friend, so you better not break his heart.” She then turned around and walked in the direction of their regular booth.

The words didn’t immediately sink in, but once they did, Trixie sped her steps to catch up with Katya. “Wait,” she called after her. “Is this a set up?” She was screaming, she knew it, but she needed to know the answer. “Katya, is this a set–” She had to stop talking when she noticed Katya frozen on her spot.

“You fucking bitch.”

Trixie followed Katya’s stare just to find Courtney Act sitting on the round couch, talking to Sergeant Haylock. For a moment, Trixie didn’t know how to react, Katya’s words hadn’t precisely been nice, but the tone of her voice didn’t seem to carry any harm. Trixie stood behind Katya, ready to react to whatever unfolded next. So, when Katya suddenly sprinted forward, Trixie almost ran after her, until she noticed how Katya opened her arms and hugged the attorney.

Courtney smelled like cotton candy, and not the cheap Bath and Body Works kind. Her skin appeared to be made out of actual candy. Katya allowed herself to get lost in the arms of her friend for a second, basking in the sweet smell, and enveloped by the warmth of her body.

“You did great,” Courtney whispered against Katya’s hair.

They pulled away a little, both looked into each other’s eyes, with big smiles on their lips.

“What the fuck happened in there?” Katya asked. She didn’t have to worry about it being a full question. There was no need for an explanation.

Taking her seat back on the booth, Courtney pulled Katya to sit next to her. “I couldn’t let her get away. I know you, you were gonna get all wrapped up and lose focus. I needed to make sure she got justice.”

“Justice?” Katya was basically yelling. “That bitch killed seven people.”

Courtney, in her collected manner, nodded her head. “And she needs to pay for it, which she’s going to. Honestly, if I hadn’t been there, if I hadn’t pushed you to actually prove her guilty, she may have walked away or gotten a smaller sentence.”

Katya wanted to protest, wanted to scream at her that she could have done it by herself just fine, but Courtney was right. If she had been left alone to spiral down the rabbit hole of her own insecurities, she would have lost sight of the main goal. That could have cost her the case. Katya needed to be pushed beyond her boundaries. If there wasn’t a constant source of stress around her, she would create one herself, and cause a lot more damage.

Before anything else was said, Craig appeared with their drinks. He placed a tall glass of soda in front of Katya, saying it was just regular Coke and apologizing for it. The hand job would have to wait for another time. He then turned to Trixie and handed her the drink she had asked for.

“Hey, sorry if I was too forward. I didn’t know,” he said and took a seat at the other end of the table.

Trixie sipped her drink for a moment, not giving much importance to his words, but then something clicked. When she turned around to ask him, Jasmine suddenly appeared from behind her, hugging her tightly and laughing right in her ear. The rest of the squad arrived right after. Congratulations went around, glasses were lifted and speeches were given. The music started sounding loudly and the dancing started. All deep and heavy topics were put to rest and everybody joined the celebration. It was fun. Everybody had a good time, dancing and drinking, enjoying themselves and the company of their friends.

A few hours into the night, Trixie was finally able to disengage from her coworkers and found Craig. “Come on, let’s dance.” She didn’t wait for an answer, she simply grabbed his hand and pulled him into the dancefloor. He allowed himself to be dragged without a problem.

Their bodies moved awkwardly, both of them tried to follow the music in their own way. Trixie placed her arms around his shoulder, an easy position since she was slightly taller. “So, what was that comment from earlier?”

He looked up at her, his hands trying to clumsily guide her hips. “Katya never told me you were a thing.”

“What?!” She was unnecessarily loud, if he noticed, he didn’t say anything. Hopefully the music playing was enough of an excuse. “We are not.”

Craig’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you two aware of that?” He laughed lightly, there was no harm in his sarcasm. It was hard to believe hurtful words ever left his lips.

Trixie’s shoulders dropped. She had no idea what she was feeling but Craig seemed like a good sounding board to figure that out. As if on cue, a laughing Katya approached them, with Courtney hot on her heels. Katya hugged them and said her goodbyes, saying she had a lot of catching up to do with her friend and the music didn’t let them. She thanked Craig for the ride but Courtney would be taking her home. 

That was the last thing that Trixie needed to make up her mind. She asked Craig if he wanted to leave too and he agreed. They went around saying goodbye to everyone. They encountered stares and _supposedly_ knowing smiles as her co-workers wished them a good night. Trixie rolled her eyes at them, but Craig loved the attention and wiggled his eyebrows in conspiracy. 

It took them a few minutes before Trixie and Craig were driving away from the club. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Craig asked when they stopped at a red light.

Trixie bit her lip. “I don’t know what you mean?” She decided to play fool, maybe she could win some time.

Craig nodded knowingly. “I saw the way you look at her.” He was right next to her, yet his voice came from somewhere far away. It sounded as if his words had to travel through layers and layers of smoke and fog until they reached her ears. “Does she know how you feel?”

A snort left Trixie’s lips as she rolled her eyes. “I don’t even know what I feel.”

He looked at her for a moment, before returning his eyes to the front, his foot pressing the pedal softly. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”

“You can say that again,” Trixie replied looking out the window, suddenly feeling incredibly vulnerable. 

Craig chuckled at her response. “What I mean is, there’s nothing wrong with liking her, to whichever extent applies in your case. It’s not as strange as you think, to be attracted to her.” Once again, he turned to face her, she could feel his eyes on her, but she kept staring out the window. “Help me get a better view of what’s going on here. Let’s talk a little bit more about the nature of your relationship. So, you met at work…” he paused there, allowing her to finish the sentence for him.

“We met a few days before my transfer... at the bar. We-we hooked up.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t judging, he didn’t even sound surprised, Craig simply took the new information as it came.

Trixie shrugged, trying to take importance away from the situation. “We didn’t know we were going to be working together, though. I thought it was going to be weird but, you know what? It wasn’t.”

“Yeah, that sounds very on brand for her. She just makes everyone feel comfortable around her.” 

She bit her lip again, her brain chewing on a thought the same way her teeth dug into her flesh. “I really do like her. Maybe I don’t know in what way yet, but definitely more than a coworker. She doesn’t want anything serious, though, and I just discovered that I can’t just do casual. So, it’s pointless anyway. I can’t allow myself to develop feelings for someone who can’t return them.”

There were a few beats of silence, before he spoke again. “Come to think of it, she does have feelings for you, you know? Strong ones.”

Her head snapped his direction, his words gaining her full attention. “Why’d you say that?”

“See, I didn’t make much of it then because, well, she wanted me to ask you out. She went on and on about how fabulous you are. In retrospect, she was listing all the things she likes about you, and there were a lot of those. She spoke very passionately about you.”

“She talks passionately about pretty much everything,” Trixie said with a roll of her eyes, pretending to be unaffected and hoping the heavy makeup could hide the redness of her cheeks.

Craig’s laughter was heard again. “You got me there, but I’m serious. I know her. She really does have feelings for you, she’s just in denial; or doesn’t even know it, rather.”

“You really think so?” Her voice sounded a lot more hopeful than she intended but, by this point, she didn’t really care. 

He stopped the car, they had arrived at her apartment. He didn’t make any attempt to turn off the engine, though. After putting the gearshift in park, he faced Trixie completely. “I do, I do think so; but, to know for sure, you two need to talk about it.”

Trixie forcefully closed her eyes, pressing her head hard against the headrest. “I don’t know. Like, you can never know with her. She talks very passionately about pickles too, and we are not gonna make a big deal about that, now, are we?”

“I mean, no. Not for pickles, but... isn’t it worth the risk? If you want me to, I can maybe, sort of, plant an idea about it to her, just to be sure where she’s standing. I can give you a call over the weekend and you can take it from there when you see her next, how does that sound?”

“Oh, Craig, you really are an angel.” Without giving it more thought, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. A small token of her gratitude that couldn’t possibly be expressed with words.

They exchanged numbers and he drove away, leaving her standing outside the gates of the residential area where she lived. Not ready to be left alone with her thoughts, she decided to take a short walk, maybe just around the block and back. She bought a cup of tea from an establishment just down the street, and then moved to hopefully find the bakery still opened. The city was illuminated by the bright street lamps and the neon signs of the stores still open at that hour. Los Angeles was beautiful, Trixie loved everything about it. Living there had been her dream for so long, one that she managed to turn into a reality. It was such a happy place.

Across town, Katya was also walking through the empty streets of the City of Angels, but, unlike Trixie, she wasn’t admiring the beauty of it all. She sped her steps to reach her place, and ran up the stairs as her stomach threatened to make her explode any second now. She knew having ice cream so late at night was a bad idea, especially the vegan type that Courtney had suggested.

As soon as Katya pushed to door to her apartment opened, she stopped cold. Everything was dark, her eyes were still trying to adjust, but she could feel it. Something was different, even when she couldn’t really tell what it was. She took a step forward and made sure to leave the door completely opened. Her fingers rearranged the keys in her hands, placing one between each of her fingers, as she walked around the couch.

The shadow became clear. Sitting at the dinner table, the shape of a large woman could be seen. The hair made her look even bigger, styled higher on one side than the other.

Katya reached for her back pocket, trying to get a hold of her phone, but a deep voice stopped.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the woman spoke from the shadows. She stood up, the chair cracking with the weight of the heavy body being lifted. 

She was tall, way taller than Katya. Her long legs carried her to close the gap between them in seconds. Katya didn’t move, she didn’t step back but didn’t walk to her either. She stood still, mentally going around the items in her apartment that could assist her if it came down to it. Her observations took her to examine the face of the intruder. She was a beautiful black woman, with makeup that made her skin look smooth under the soft lighting coming from outside. 

“Don’t be scared,” she said straight to Katya’s face. There was a pause, Katya could see, from the corner of her eye, how the hand of the woman slowly retracted. “I’m just here to deliver a message.”

That was when the first blow came. The closed hand made a swing in front of Katya’s face, who managed to pull back just in time. Katya dodged the arm and stood behind the woman. She wasn’t going to hit back, she knew better than to attack an unarmed person, but Katya was ready to defend herself. And she did exactly that when the woman turned around, launching herself towards Katya.

Katya’s flexible leg fanned in front of her. She could very easily kick the woman on the head, even with the height difference, but all she wanted was to keep her away. Blow after blow, Katya ducked and moved away, missing, by mere millimeters, the knuckles directed to her face, back, stomach.

“Listen, bitch,” Katya warned. “I don’t want to beat the shit out of you. So you better get the fuck out of my place if you don’t want to get severely injured,” she spoke out of breath. Only a few steps separated the two women in fighting position.

The loud laughter, Katya wasn’t expecting. “You think your skinny ass can do anything to me, bitch, you are gonna have to eat it!”

Finally, the first punch was connected. Katya bent over as the air was knocked out of her, the right fist of the attacker punched her gut repeatedly. It wasn’t a time to defend herself, that moment was gone, now she needed to attack back.

For a moment everything became a blur. The darkness of the place didn’t allow Katya to see clearly. She felt the hard beating of her heart, the sting of rings digging in flesh with every punch, the burning on her arm when nails scratched skin. The room was filled with grunts of effort and screams of pain. Time seemed to stretch forever as Katya did her best to stay as agile as possible in her cluttered apartment.

A lamp was picked up, and Katya felt the pain, even before the porcelain broke against her skull. She dropped to the floor, the warmth of her own blood trickled down her scalp as she hit the ground.

“You don’t mess with Latrila,” was the last thing she heard before everything went black.


	7. Green.

** Chapter 7 - Green.**

“How could you let this happen?!”

Ginger Minj made her way across the bullpen. Her steps resounded in the echo of the open space, making the small heels sound louder.

Trixie lifted her head from the papers in her hand. It took a moment for her tired eyes to focus on the angry woman marching her direction. Her ears didn’t even catch the sound of wheels going across the floor until Violet appeared in front of her, still sitting on her desk chair, with her arms stretched in front of herself, figuratively creating a barrier between the two women.

“Girl, don’t,” Violet said firmly but quietly, slowly rising to her feet.

“You were supposed to protect her!” Ginger screamed, her arm snaking under Violet’s and a finger pointing at Trixie. “That’s what partners are for.”

Violet wrapped her arm around Ginger’s shoulder, preventing her from walking any further. “Minj, they were not on the clock.”

Trixie could only see Violet’s back, but she pictured her face being stern, just like the tone of her voice.

“That doesn’t matter!” Ginger’s voice sounded broken, tinted with unshed tears. “Have you seen her, V? She’s in a hospital bed, tubes connected everywhere. Lord.”

The muscles on Violet’s back seemed to contract as she stood a little too straight. “I have. I have seen her, and I know that’s not Trixie’s fault.” She moved to the side, just enough for Trixie to see sadness taking over her features. There was nothing anybody could have done to prevent this. No matter how many scenarios each detective had created in their mind, the reality was still the same.

Ginger’s eyes opened wide as she directed her stare between the two women. “You have got to be kidding me. Are you defending her now?” Ginger was almost screaming again; probably hating now more than ever that she needed to look up to find Violet’s eyes. What she lacked in height, she made up for in attitude. “Weren’t you the one calling me, saying that you just couldn’t stand her?”

A look of surprise took over Trixie’s face. Her hands went up in confusion, not only because the two women were talking about her as if she wasn’t standing right there, but because she was just learning her coworker didn’t like her.

“Uh, I’m literally right here, guys.”

Violet turned to face her for a second before she returned her attention to Ginger. “You don’t know what’s the story. Come, let’s talk.” She tried to get a hold of Ginger’s elbow, to direct her towards the break room, but Ginger wasn’t having it.

“I don’t need to talk with y’all. You seem to be making a mess out of everything you touch. I thought I would come out here and show you how it’s done.”

“You are here because I called you.” Captain Charles stood under the doorframe of his office, his hands clasped together solemnly. “Briefing room, now.”

Everybody dropped what they were doing and obeyed the captain’s orders. Trixie took her usual seat, the same she had occupied since the first time she stepped inside that room. Her arms dropped on the table and her head landed in the crook of her own elbows. For the first time in ages, she didn’t have to worry about her makeup getting ruined, she removed it a couple of days ago and didn’t bother to reapply it. She felt her greasy hair tickling her skin. She hadn’t been home in two days, and hadn’t taken a proper shower since the day before that. 

Craig didn’t keep his promise. He didn’t call Trixie over the weekend, he called her that same Friday night. As soon as he got home, he noticed the door to Katya’s apartment was opened, and knew something wasn’t right. He walked in, without warning, and flipped the switch to turn the lights on. Nothing could have prepared him for the scene he found. Katya sat at her dinner table, her head hanging low, and a pool of blood at her feet.

After calling nine-one-one, he had called Trixie right away, who got there in a matter of minutes. They tried to get Katya to react to no avail. Trixie kept her finger firm on her pulse, and a towel at the back of Katya’s head, as they waited for the ambulance. Trixie rode with her, not wanting to let Katya out of her sight, and Craig followed them in his car.

Nobody would tell them anything for hours. The squad soon filled the waiting area of the emergency room, as they all silently prayed for the wellbeing of their dear friend. Roy would yell at the nurses, telling them what a horrible job they were doing at keeping up with the information. Captain Charles had to order him to either shut up or leave. In his kind manner, RuPaul requested the staff to keep them updated, since it was a very valuable agent of the law they were taking care of. 

Kasha and Tempest went on a coffee run, and came back with steaming cups and old muffins for everyone. Trixie kept her tea in her hands, but didn’t drink it. The hot liquid wouldn’t make it past her throat, so she used it to warm her hands, which were cold with worry and uncertainty. She clung to Craig, asking him, over and over again, to describe the scene he found inside the apartment. He hadn’t seen anybody leaving, nor had he noticed anything unusual on his way up to their floor.

It took them two hours for the doctors to come out. Katya was okay. She had two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Besides that, her arms and legs were covered in scrapes and bruises. She had clearly put up a fight. The thing they were most concerned about was the gash on the back of her head. It appeared to be skin deep, yet they ran several scans and X-Rays to be sure. Her brain seemed undamaged, but they needed to wait until she woke up to be sure. It had been three days since then, and she still wouldn’t react.

The doctors wouldn’t force her to wake up. Her body needed time to recover and come back by itself. All they could do was wait. It was frustrating.

Trixie pushed her fist against the metallic table, and lifted her head. People were still filing inside the briefing room, tired bodies walked in one after the other. Everybody seemed exhausted, more so than any other Monday morning. Their faces showed something closer to sadness than anything else. Trixie hated that. It was time to put their best foot forward, to be at the top of their game. Trixie felt tired, gross, but she was nowhere near giving up. 

Violet sat next to her, it was the last seat available in the room. The one Katya usually took since she partnered up with Trixie. People stayed cleared from it, maybe out of respect. Trixie wanted to scream at them. Katya wasn’t dead. If only she wasn’t as exhausted, Trixie would have slapped the sorrow out of their stupid faces as they stirred away from the empty chair. Finally, Violet took the seat, maybe because her usual one had been occupied by Ginger, but it felt like Violet wanted to be there for Trixie. She could tell as much when Violet smiled softly at her. Trixie only half returned the gesture before Captain Charles called everyone’s attention to the front.

“Thank you, everyone,” he started. “Thanks to everybody that showed up in the middle of the night, and those of you who have worked non stop over the weekend.” He nodded his head a couple of times, bracing himself, but also giving some time for the crew to realize they were going to touch a sensitive topic. “As all of you know, Detective Zamo was attacked last Friday night.” His voice was soft, delicate; a tender whisper. “Her home was apparently broken into, we are yet to determine that. Girl, did she put up a fight, Mamma!” He drawled his words and bobbed his head side to side, a proud smile playing on his lips. “Luckily, she was found less than an hour later by a neighbor and was attended to right away. She has been in intensive care since then.”

A burning feeling took over Trixie’s nape, it surely was all the stares that had fixated on her at once. The information had spread rather fast, everybody knew she had been the first one at the scene.

“The doctors are very hopeful. There was no internal damage, but she did receive a blow to the head that has kept her unconscious. Once she wakes up, they will know if any other areas were affected.”

The room was dead silent, the squad hung to every word that came out of the captain’s mouth. They cared. Katya was one of, if not the most cared about agent in the precinct, that love could be felt in the aura of concern that had taken over the entire place.

“Now, Detective Mattel will brief us about what’s been discovered so far.” He pointed in Trixie’s direction, letting her know it was her time to speak. 

Violet squeezed Trixie’s hand slightly as she got up. Trixie looked down at the perfectly manicured fingers wrapped around her own, and for a moment tried to remember if this was the first time she felt Violet’s touch. It was unfamiliar but surprisingly soothing. She offered a small smile back before she made her way to the front and thanked the captain. 

She was ready to stand behind the podium when he took hold of her forearm. “If you feel too close to the case, let me know. We can cover for you.”

“I’m fine,” she reassured him as firmly as she could, before taking the remote in her hand. “So Katya was hurt,” she said dryly. “Some bastard attacked her and we need to catch the motherfucker.”

The smiling face of her partner appeared on the screen and her jaw clenched, her stomach turned. It was the picture used for Katya’s ID. She was all big teeth and bright lipstick. Her eyes looked almost green through the lense, under the fluorescent lighting. Trixie couldn’t even look at that happy being. Hitting next, she presented several pictures of Katya’s apartment, from the door that was left open, to the couch that no longer touched the wall behind it. Katya’s place had been completely trashed. Sure, it was a mess to start with, but there were things that had been knocked down during the fight, furniture had been flipped and picture frames could be seen on the floor.

“The weapon was most likely this monkey lamp.” 

With a click of the remote the image changed. There was a picture that Trixie had taken, when they went vintage shopping a few weeks back. Katya had gone crazy in the home-decor isle. The lamp instantly stole her heart, with its big shade and the detailed design of a monkey carved into the wood of the base. She held the ornament and pretended to lick it as Trixie snapped the shot. It had been such a fun day. Trixie shook the memory out of her mind. She needed to focus, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to continue.

“It was not found in the crime scene. The attacker must have taken it with them. They knew what they were doing. The idea is that they were not prepared for Katya to fight back so hard. That fit bitch.” The last words were more to herself, coming out almost in a whisper. “Other than the clear mess of the place, they left no trace of even being there. We found no fingerprints, not a single hair, not even spit. We have reasons to believe that Katya injured them pretty badly. All the blood samples that we found are at the lab, and they are trying to see if there’s any other than Katya’s.”

A hand was raised at the back. “Do we have any suspects?” Kennedy asked without waiting for Trixie to acknowledge her.

“I believe this has something to do with The Puppeteer. Not only because that was the last case she was involved in but, as you can see here, she was found sitting at her dinner table, same as all the victims.” 

She stopped, giving her fellow detectives a moment to look at the next image. Just like she told them, Katya sat at the table, puddle of blood around her feet. Her face wasn’t painted, and her limbs didn’t have strings coming from the ceiling, but Trixie was almost sure it was somehow related to the killer.

“Didn’t you just close that case, though?” Ginger challenged from her seat.

Trixie nodded. “Yes. And Katya being attacked, right after the sentence was given, can’t be a coincidence. For as long as we worked the case, there were no indications that Manila Luzon had an accomplice. It could be a copy-cat, or a fan even, someone that heard about the M.O. and is trying to replicate it. They are obviously not very good at it.”

“That’s where we are going to need your help,” Sergeant Haylock intervened. “We need to see if anyone has been released recently, anyone that Katya caught that may want revenge. That bitch put a lot of freaks in jail. Any of those weirdos could be responsible for this.”

“Kasha and Tempest, can you help me get the info from her old cases? We need to check on anyone that was released over the last six months… a year even.” The duo nodded in sync to Trixie’s request. “Jasmine, Kennedy, please, go to her apartment building, find out if anybody noticed anything. See if you can get any footage from nearby stores or something.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jasmine responded right away. “Imma need you awake for this one, Jush.” She playfully pushed her partner who simply elbowed her back.

Despite the situation, Trixie couldn’t help but chuckle. “Violet, Ginger, you are working with me.”

Violet hummed an approval but, as was expected, Ginger complained right away. “Who said I wanted to work with you?”

Sergeant Haylock rolled his eyes with a loud huff. “Look, bitch, I know you are too busy, now that you joined the fucking circus, but leave the clown attitude at the tent, will you?” Ginger had no reply to that, she simply did her best attempt at crossing her arms over her large chest as the sergeant continued. “You both worked the case with Katya at different stages, that’s why you are working together.”

“We all are,” Trixie butted in. “Look, guys, we all love her, and we all want to see whoever did this to her pay for it. Let’s work together and catch this guy.”

Captain Charles dismissed the meeting once each member of the team had a task assigned.

Trixie walked with Violet and Ginger close behind her. The pair talked about what had transpired since the last time they saw each other, which was surprisingly not that long ago. Trixie wondered if they used those opportunities to talk about her. They made it clear they had commented on their shared dislike for her. She could very easily picture them at brunch, mimosas in their hands, laughing at how stupid one of her outfits was. Suddenly, Trixie felt very angry at them, at the hypothetical version of them roasting her over scrambled eggs and buttery toast.

“What is all this?” Ginger’s voice came from behind her, a tone of bewilderment lacing her words. Her fingers traced the pictures placed on a crock board. Her eyes followed the ribbons that went from wall to wall, connecting Katya’s friends and family members. There were notes and post-its with details next to each person. 

“This is Katya’s life,” Violet answered with a side smile on her face. “Trixie,” she said as a way of explanation.

“You did all this...” Ginger turned to Trixie. “In just two days?”

Trixie shrugged one shoulder. “Yesterday. Spent the whole day with her on Saturday.”

Her mouth opened in surprised, Ginger practically had to pick her jaw from the floor to speak again. “This is… incredible.” Her eyes travelled through the many pieces of information. Everything that Katya liked was listed, all her favorite restaurants, cafés, even the parks she visited. Schedules of all the different classes Katya attended had being printed, and pictures of the instructors accompanied each pamphlet. “You really know her, huh?”

“I know her likes and interests,” Trixie said, dismissing Ginger’s words. “There are so many layers of her,” she exhaled in a sigh, the complexity of Katya overwhelming her yet again. “It’s really hard to fully know her. I try, though, I really do. She’s just too much, all at once, you know?”

A small chuckle escaped Ginger’s lips. “I do.” She nodded. “I miss that little nutcase.” Her eyes went once again to the board, where Katya smiled at her from at least six different angles. “I miss seeing her walking around with the earphones in, the wire just hanging unplugged.”

“Ohmygod, yes!” Trixie laughed loudly, and lifted her hands in the air. “Because it’s a lot easier to unplug one thing from the computer–”

“Than two from the ears,” both Trixie and Ginger said in unison.

Something immediately changed; as if a switch had been flipped that pushed all the anger and resentment to the side. Violet laughed at them, probably not really following the conversation, but understanding the bond Katya could cause between people. 

Ginger pointed at a picture of Courtney Act, placed right in the center. “Have you talked to this asshole?” The tone of her voice still showed a tint of amusement.

Trixie understood the term was more or less one of endearment, not precisely an insult, so she simply nodded her head. “She was the last one to see her, meaning the first person I talked to.”

“What did she say?” Ginger asked.

“They left the party and went for ice-cream,” Trixie offered. “Katya wasn’t feeling well. They made plans to meet the next day for a late lunch. Courtney took her home, left her right at the front gate.”

Ginger’s eyes travelled across the board, trying to find the answer to her next question before she pronounced it. “Did she notice anything unusual?”

“Nope, but it was dark and she wasn’t really paying attention. She just waited until Katya entered the building to leave. That’s why I’m trying to get footage of the street.”

A chubby finger pointed at the blueprint on the far end of the room. “What is that? Is that a map of the building?” Ginger asked.

Trixie explained, in full detail, all the information she had deemed relevant enough to be put up around the room. Ginger listened, like, really listened. She asked questions when needed and added facts if Trixie didn’t have them. It took them almost an hour to go through everything and, by lunch time, they had a whiteboard with a drawn calendar, graphing every single one of Katya’s activities of the last month.

“Wait, what’s on Thursday nights?” Violet asked, pointing at the empty slot at eight p.m. every week on the same day.

Both Trixie and Ginger lifted their heads, noticing the space for the first time. They went through the many pieces of paper they had in hand, Trixie pulled up the spreadsheet they had on her laptop, there was no indication of what Katya did at that time. She didn’t take any classes that late at night, she usually took them in the morning. They checked the many receipts they had found in her car and house one more time. Katya wasn’t precisely a creature of habit but even her grocery shopping was done right after work. There was nothing that could indicate what she did during that hour.

Violet rolled her eyes, huffing softly. “So, I guess I’m gonna be the bitch that says it, but… could she be using again?”

If looks could kill, the thin girl would be dead under the stare of the two women flanking her. “No way,” Ginger was the one to answer. “We literally _just_ talked about it at dinner the other night. She’s clean.”

Trixie laughed, the thought was almost ridiculous. “Plus, it’s not like she’s gonna have, I don’t know, a meth appointment. Those things are, like, if you need it, you need it, right? It’s not like you are gonna be all: nope, can’t get fucked up today, gotta wait until Thursday.” She laughed again at her own words, causing yet another eye roll from her coworker.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Violet said, her hands going up in surrender. “I didn’t mean in that particular time frame but, don’t tell me the possibility didn’t cross your mind.”

“Not even once,” Trixie assured her. 

“She had really been set on doing things right for a while now,” Ginger reminded them.

That was when an idea crossed Trixie’s mind. “Okay, but listen, what about a therapist? Could she be seeing someone?”

Ginger nodded effusively. “She could, she could; when you went through her emails, did you find anything about that?”

Violet shook her head, then turned to Trixie, who suddenly had grown quiet.

“Not a therapist,” Trixie said after a few beats of silence, almost to herself. “She had…” The sentence was left there as she moved to a box sitting in a corner of the room, she rummaged through it until she found her prize. She flipped the small coin in the air, catching it and reading the engraving. “She must have a sponsor, maybe they met at the group at that time.” She flipped the round piece of medal again, this time to land in Ginger’s awaiting hands.

“This bitch really is good,” Ginger said to Violet, a cheeky grin pasted on her lips as she pointed at Trixie with her thumb. “So people really do like her, huh?”

“She’s… polarizing,” Violet conceded, her personality wouldn’t allow her to give a direct compliment. 

Trixie screamed in laughter. “You bitch! Now, c’mon. We need to find this place.”

It didn’t take them long. The group met in a library just a few blocks down the precinct. Leave it to Katya to have all the important places of her life within walking distance. Ginger and Trixie walked there, and Violet went back to the club, to see if Bob the bartender remembered anything about that night. They were welcomed by a sign that read “Courage to Change” and had the different logos for the groups that held meetings there. Trixie could only recognize the AA and NA insignias among the bunch, but she didn’t give it much importance as she walked the empty hallways.

“Oh, hi!” A girl shouted from behind a desk at the end of the room, several rows of chairs separated her from the detectives. That didn’t stop her from yelling her greetings to them. “Are you _twelfths_?” 

“Excuse me?” Ginger asked, feeling insulted.

The girl laughed loudly, bending forward, and allowing her green hair to completely cover her face. She made a show of throwing it back, both her hands pushing away the curtain of unruly hair. She stood up, her heavy boots hitting hard against the wooden floor. Her jeans were ripped and there was a plaid shirt tied around her waist. She couldn’t be more than eighteen years old.

“I just asked if you were new. Haven’t seen you around here. I would definitely remember you.” She looked at Trixie up and down, making her feel uncomfortable knowing her face was bare of any makeup; and the set of sweats and hoodie, with the LAPD seal printed on it, were not exactly sexy. “Hi, I’m Adore D.” The girl extended her hand and shook Trixie’s first and then Ginger’s. 

“I’m Detective Mattel, and this is Detective Minj.”

“Party!” Adore said, her eyes growing wide in excitement.

“We are actually here looking for our friend,” Ginger offered, pulling up a picture of Katya on her phone. “Have you seen this woman?”

Adore bit her lip nervously. “You know, we are anonymous for a reason.” She looked around, as if making sure nobody could hear her. “We are not supposed to, like, know where we live or work, stuff like that. We can’t even tell each other’s full names and shit. But, like, is this complete stranger woman, who I may or may not have seen before, in danger or something?” Her voice fluctuated theatrically, obviously trying to tell them she was purposely keeping information from them. 

Trixie nodded her head. “She was attacked last Friday night. She’s unconscious in the hospital right now.”

“Oh, fuck!” The girl seemed genuinely surprised to get that information. “Shit. Okay. Hold on.” She moved her head slightly to the side, which did nothing to redirect the loud scream from the detectives’ ears. “Fame!” She waited a few seconds but there was no response so she did it again. “Fame! The police is here! It’s Katya!”

Right away, a head popped out from behind a door. “Who, what now?” 

Adore had her hand covering her mouth, close to tears, she only removed it to speak again. “They say Katya’s been attacked. She’s fucking unconscious, man.”

Long fingers pulled the door opened, and the slim woman invited them into the office. She was beautiful, gorgeous. She pushed her long skirt aside as she sat down behind a desk, motioning them to take the seats across from it.

“Please, take a seat. I’m Fame, I direct this community of centers, and have sponsored Katya for several twenty-four hours now. What can I do to help? ”

Trixie analyzed the woman’s perfectly applied makeup, feeling more and more insecure in her own state; but this wasn’t about her, it was about Katya. She right away redirected her thoughts to the task at hand. “We are trying to trace back her steps, and we have a window of time that we can’t fill out. Do you meet regularly?”

The styled curls bounced as Fame nodded. “I see her every Thursday at eight. We have meetings every night at seven, but she can’t always make it.”

“Do you know if she was going through something major? Any indications that she was in trouble, or was there something that could get her hurt?” Ginger asked.

This time Fame shook her head. “Well, I can’t tell you much. This is not like that doctor-patient confidentiality stuff, a sponsorship goes way deeper than that. What I can say is that she has been living every day as it came, fighting demons as we all are, and taming them the best she could. She knows she is loved, and fuels from it.” There was a soft smile on her face, it was secretive. “She knows she’s not alone, if she had issues she knows who to talk to.”

Trixie met eyes with her, and she knew exactly what she meant. Fame knew who Trixie was, and the role she played in Katya’s life, which seemed to be a lot bigger than Trixie herself had realized. There was a moment of complicity as the women held each other’s stare, having a wordless conversation, until Ginger’s heavy accent broke the trance.

“Girl, the fuck does that mean?”

Fame smile got wider, understanding. Katya’s world was, most likely, finally materializing in front of her eyes. All the characters she only knew from Katya’s tales and experiences were coming to life. “To answer your previous question, no, she wasn’t in trouble, or involved in anything that could have caused her getting hurt.”

Both Trixie and Ginger thanked the director and provided the hospital information so she could go visit Katya. Trixie left her card, encouraging Fame to use it if she remembered anything important, or if any other member mentioned information relevant to the case. Fame once again let them know she had no authority to do that, but promised to stay in touch.

Trixie walked back to the precinct lost in thought, not really listening to everything Ginger had to say about the picturesque personalities they had just encountered. She went on and on about Adore’s hair and Fame’s tattoo of a chicken. All of that was completely irrelevant. She still didn’t know what had happened to Katya, but she wasn’t defeated. A door closing only meant they needed to find a new one, and if that didn’t hold the answer either, then they will continue knocking on door after door after door. 

One thing Trixie knew for sure, she wasn’t going to stop until she found whoever hurt Katya.


	8. Orange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just rewatched season nine, so yeah.

**Chapter 8 - Orange.**

The beeping sound was annoying. If only anybody could shut that fucking thing off.

Katya’s eyes opened slowly, trying to identify the source of her annoyance. Brightness blinded her right away, she blinked slowly in an attempt to adjust to the piercing fluorescence light. She had no idea where she was. Thing that could be easily solved, she only needed to figure out where she had spent the night. She wanted to look around but her neck wouldn’t turn. That was when the taste of plastic reached her senses. It started at her lips, pushed her tongue down, and expanded her throat. Logic said it should block air from reaching her lungs, but it didn’t, it facilitated exactly that. It was a breathing tube. 

Her eyes went frantically side to side, trying to absorb as much of her surroundings as they could. The first thing she spotted was the machine next to her. A line went up and down evenly, a numeric count registered the variation. Suddenly, the number started to go higher. The annoying sound went faster. The machine was reading her pulse, the line was her heartbeat, the same heartbeat that began to lose its steadiness just then. That was where the beeping sound came from. Accompanying each ding, was an orange light, coming on and off with the rhythm of her heart. She was alive, that machine existed as a proof.

A shadow caught the corner of her eye. In a chair by the bed, curled up in a rather uncomfortable position, was Trixie. She seemed to be deep in a troublesome sleep. Her eyes twitched rapidly and her chest rose and fell erratically. Probably a nightmare was keeping her from resting properly, maybe the uncomfortable hospital chair prevented her– hospital chair. They were in a hospital, Katya could smell the chlorine, could feel the worn out sheet. It all started to make sense now.

The pain at the back of her head was probably the reason why she was there, the reason why Trixie was there. If it hadn’t been for the large tube pulsing between her teeth, Katya would have smiled. Just the thought of Trixie being there for her, waiting for her to wake up, made a warm feeling to spread across her chest. She wanted to reach and call Trixie’s attention, but soon realized her arms were not responding either. A finger tapped against the mattress, at least she could move that. Her toes wiggled a little, and the muscles of her face were also contracting and releasing under her command. She could move some parts of her body, but she didn’t want to try any other. Those attempts were enough to make her feel tired, she simply wanted to go back to sleep.

Her eyes felt extremely heavy, and she closed them ever so slowly. The brightness of the room couldn’t be completely shut out, though, it made it through her eyelids, revealing orange dots dancing in the shadows of her closed eyes. While immersed in that cancan dance, was that she missed the door being pushed open, and the girl that walked into the room.

Trixie jumped from her twisted position at the sound of high heels.

“Oh, hey,” the girl said as a greeting. “I wasn’t told anybody was in here.” Her feet were planted by the door. With enquiring eyes, she made her stare travel between the doorknob and then back at Trixie, who slowly rose to stand up. “I can come back later, if you want.”

She didn’t mean to stare, but everything about this girl screamed at Trixie to look at her. She wore a colorful paint suit, good two sizes bigger than her. Her bald head by itself was enough to call the attention of anyone that came across her. Her peculiarly drawn eyebrows, the perfectly winged eyeliner, the bright lips; Trixie didn’t know how or why but everything about this girl made it clear that she was related to Katya, without a doubt.

“No. Don’t worry. You are fine. I’m Trixie.” She ran her fingers down her hair, trying to make it presentable before extending her hand to the girl.

A look of something that could only be recognition filled her features. She smiled widely, knowingly. Her eyebrows, which were pretty much connected already, came together in a frown. “So, you are Trixie, huh?” She openly looked at Trixie up and down, analyzing her, drinking her in. “You are exactly how I imagined you to be.” Finally, she took Trixie’s hand and shook it firmly. “I’m Sasha, Katya’s cousin. We talked on the phone, that one time. Pleased to meet you.”

Trixie pulled her lips to form a smile, even the muscles around her mouth were exhausted. “Oh, right. Likewise.”

“How is she doing?”

Sasha’s eyes landed on the sleeping form, blood seemed to drain her body at once. Her skin looked, if possible, paler than before. She took the few steps separating her from the bed, held Katya’s hand in hers, and brushed her thumb against the bruised knuckles. Her pupils seemed wider as she asserted the damage, and Trixie gave her a moment to take it all in, before she answered the question. She knew how shocking it was to assimilate Katya’s state. The many tubes, bandages and gauzes were not easy to digest.

“She’s fighting,” Trixie offered softly from behind Sasha. “It’s gonna be a week tomorrow and she still hasn’t come to. The doctors say her brain is fine, they haven’t detected any internal bleeding of any kind. The lazy motherfucker just won’t wake up.”

Sasha chuckled tearfully, sadness making her voice sound even deeper than before. “We have been worried sick. I was barely able to fly in from New York. Her mom and dad are trying to arrange everything to get here, a trip all the way from Russia is hard to put together.”

Even when she knew Sasha couldn’t see her, Trixie nodded her head. “I’ve been talking to her mom and sister, I update them when I can but, honestly, nothing has really changed. There’s nothing I can do for them, or her.” Her long fingers, with chipped polish that barely covered her nails, pointed in Katya’s direction.

A mental note was done to either remove it completely or fix that nail polish. A note that was soon going to get buried in the last spot of her list of priorities.

Sasha turned to look at her, disbelief written all over her face. “Are you joking? You have been doing so much. The family back home is ready to build a statue in your honor. Not only have you been by her bedside, aren’t you leading the investigation as well?”

A twist of her lips, and a shrug of a shoulder, were Trixie’s answers. “She would have done the same for me.”

The sharp bones disappeared behind Sasha’s cheeks as she smiled widely. Her eyes once again were cast down, directed to absorb Katya in this condition; the same condition that they hoped, more than expected, wasn’t permanent. “She really is unique, isn’t she?” The admiration was evident on Sasha’s voice as she looked at her cousin. “She’s a fighter,” Sasha stated, looking back at Trixie. “You know? She gives me the will to keep on trying, to keep on thriving. You don’t know how much she’s gone through, but she always makes it through.”

With a soft smile pulling at the corner of her lips, Trixie agreed. “She’s a soldier.” Before she could elaborate on the feeling of pride invading her, her phone started ringing somewhere in the room. “Oh, I really need to get that.”

“Of course,” Sasha bowed her head, excusing her. “LA finest never sleep, huh?” There was a pause, one that allowed Trixie to go through the many tables with vases filled with flowers, trying to find the screaming phone. “By the way, when was the last time you slept?”

The generic tone stopped ringing. Trixie moved stuff around, pushing strings that held balloons with the words _get well soon_ written on them, the phone wasn’t there either. 

“I was sleeping just before you got here,” she offered matter-of-factly. 

Dismissing Trixie’s words, Sasha shook her head. “You know that doesn’t count.”

“I’m fine, really.”

Sasha’s deep voice turned, if possible, even more serious. “Girl, I say this with nothing but love, but you look terrible.”

“_Werk!_” Trixie stopped her search to face Katya’s cousin with faked offense. “You bitch.” Even when her words could have been considered an insult, the tone of Trixie’s voice was light, provoking a chuckle from Sasha. “There you are!”

Trixie finally found her mobile, it was hidden behind a card with a drinking pun she didn’t understand, sent by Katya’s AA fellow group members. Kim’s name appeared underneath the missed calls label. Right away, a text came through, it was Kim asking if she was going to make it home that night. At least it wasn’t work. The mixture of Sasha’s concerns and the message from her roommate, actually got Trixie thinking. Maybe it was a sign, it couldn’t possibly be a coincidence that both came up at the same time.

“Hey…” She turned to Sasha, not sure how to bring up the thought she was just unraveling herself.

There was no need to, Sasha understood. “Go. Get some sleep.” She opened the stylish clutch in her hand, easily fishing out her cellphone and unlocking it. “Put your number in. I’ll let you know if anything happens.”

Trixie took the device with gratitude, saving the digits under her full name and a sparkling heart. “I’ve been here every night, this idiot better not wake up the only time I’m gone.” She waved a finger towards Katya, admonishing the sleeping form of her partner. She then moved closer, placing a kiss on the covered temple, feeling the threads of a gauze against her lips. “I’m just joking. Don’t wait for me, bitch. Wake up already, I mean, if you feel like it, of course.”

Leaving Katya didn’t feel right. Trixie had been living on that chair for almost a week now, falling asleep to the even rhythm of Katya’s heartbeat, knowing that, even when unconscious, she was still there. Somewhere in the fog of her coma, Katya was alive and fighting. That was inspiration enough to make Trixie do the same. She was working nonstop to try and catch whoever did this to her. A darkness in her told Trixie that catching the bad guy would compare to nothing if Katya didn’t make it. Sentencing this person for murder wouldn’t bring Katya back, but Trixie didn’t let her thoughts wander down that road, at least not a lot. She just wanted to find this evil person and have them pay. She just needed to find them and didn’t seem to be able to. A part of the process was missing. She wanted to bounce off ideas with Katya. She wanted Katya to come up with the most ludacris scenarios to, somehow, forced her logic to pick up the right pieces and put them together. 

On some nights, Trixie would tell Katya what she had discovered during the day. The car that had parked behind her building the night of the attack, and how they had a whole team of nerds trying to get a good shot of the plates. She would share with Katya’s hibernating body how stressed and frustrated she felt to hit one dead end after the other. The doctors assured Trixie that Katya could hear her, feel her in the room, so, as stupid as she felt doing so, she kept spilling pointless tales every night. Talking to a non responsive Katya was extremely heartbreaking. Not having Katya laughing hysterically to a stupid joke, or looking at her with big, expecting eyes, hanging to her every word, brought tears to Trixie’s eyes. Still, she wouldn’t stop doing it. She spent sleepless nights telling Katya about her childhood, about that time she got stung by twenty-one bees, about the evolution of her Tinder bio, about the horrible hospital coffee, about how much she missed her.

When she reached her apartment, ready to pass out for the night, she didn’t expect Kim to have a whole group of people in the living room. That was probably why she had been asking if Trixie was coming home, because she had people over. Trixie right away recognized Pearl and her stupidly beautiful face. She was surprised to see Shea there, the girl hardly had time to hang with them anymore. Trixie tried to identify the two people giving their backs to her, sitting on the couch, facing the black screen of the TV that wasn’t turned on.

Kim stood up when she saw her, placing her cup on the coffee table in the middle of the group. “Hi. You never answered my text,” Kim reminded her.

“Don’t let me ruin your gathering,” Trixie said with a wave of her hand. “I’m gonna go collapse in–”

That was when the two people turned around. Violet looked at her intensely, in the only way she knew how to, really; and Craig actually stood up from his seat, casting his eyes down guiltily.

“What’s going on here?” Trixie asked confused, almost offended. “What are you two doing here?” Her words were directed to Violet and Craig, who had no relation to the other girls in the room.

“Why don’t you come sit?” Kim walked to her, trying to get a hold of her arm, but Trixie didn’t let her. 

“Kimberly, you better tell me what’s going on, right now,” she demanded.

Rolling her eyes, Violet was the one that answered. “This is an intervention, you stupid.”

The indignation was probably written all over her face as Trixie rhetorically asked, “A what?!” 

Shea stood up as well, her fingers wrapped around a mug that most likely held warm tea. Her long nails scratched the porcelain, the clogs in her head were visibly turning as she tried to find the right words before she spoke. “We are worried about you, girl. You know I won’t sugarcoat it. You look terrible. When was the last time you slept?”

Even against herself, Trixie was walking towards them, standing a safe distance away from the living room. “You sound just like Sasha,” she said with a twist of her lips.

“Who?” Shea asked confused, the name didn’t ring any bells.

“Katya’s cousin. She said the same thing just an hour ago. She’s the one that sent me home.”

“She sounds like a very wise woman, then,” Shea offered.

“You would like her.” Trixie shrugged her shoulders. “She’s alright, I guess. She’s weird. How could she not? She’s related to Katya after all...”

Everybody in the room stared at Trixie, allowed her to ramble about the resemblance of the two women, and how the quirkiness surely ran in the family. Deep down, she knew she was buying time, she didn’t want to face whatever her friends had to say, even less in company of her coworker and Katya’s neighbour. As she went through everything she had told Sasha, she mentally made a list of all the topics they could possibly address, and thought of an escape plan for each.

Finally, Violet had enough. “I don’t give a fuck about Sasha. _God_. We need to talk about you and your obsession with this case.”

“Obsession?” Trixie asked, feeling insulted. A puff of air left her parted lips as she rolled her eyes. “Excuse me for doing my job.”

Kim sat back down, hoping the motion would invite Trixie to do the same. “You have been lying to us.” She paid no attention to Trixie’s shocked face, Kim simply continued. “You would tell me you are working late–”

“And you leave work early to go home and rest,” Violet finished for Kim, making air quotes for the second half of her sentence.

Shea stood right next to her. “Come sit with me,” she said and moved her cup closer to Trixie, offering her at least something to entertain her hands with. She took it, even if she didn’t drink it, she simply rubbed her palms against its fading warmth. “What’s going on?” Shea inquired softly, she wasn’t attacking her, not like the rest, she was worried.

“Nothing,” Trixie assured them, getting no reaction. She sighed, finally sitting down, her shoulders dropping dramatically. “Really, nothing’s going on. I just… I can’t stand seeing her like this, okay?” Her voice cracked. A single brick had fallen from the figurative wall between her and the world. The rest came rushing down. “I feel stupid, and useless, and-and powerless. I see her in that bed, just this... empty shell. That’s not Katya. I know she’s there, somewhere. But also, like, it’s not her? And I wish I could just, like, slap her awake. I can’t stand seeing her like that. So, I leave, go back to the precinct and try to connect the dots, coming up with nothing. My mind is constantly thinking about her in that bed, I can’t concentrate. So, I leave and go back to the hospital. There’s nothing I can do there, I could be of more use doing some work.” Tears ran down her cheeks as fast as words spilled from her lips. “It’s idiotic, I _know_, but I can’t help it.”

“We can help you,” Violet butted in. “You need to delegate. We want to solve this, too, you know? We are all willing to put in the time and effort to figure this shit out, but you just send us out for the information and want to put everything together by yourself. We care about her, too. Like, she’s one of my best friends. Sure, I’m not in love with her but… I do love her.”

The words hit something inside of her. Trixie eyed Craig with fire in her stare. She couldn’t believe she allowed her doubts and fears to be exposed like that. She had trusted Craig and he just went ahead and spilled them. 

“You told them?”

He simply lifted his hands in surrender, before Violet came to his defense. “Bitch, he didn’t have to. We all see it.”

Trixie’s gaze went around the room, her friends nodded silently.

“Look, I can’t imagine how you are feeling,” Craig said in his steady voice. “But we are probably somewhat dealing with the same situation. I feel a ton of guilt. I was supposed to drive her home that night. It was my duty to see her get back safe, and I didn’t.” There was a quiver on his lips, the movement of his mustache making the tremble even more visible. “We are in this together, you are not alone.”

Pearl, who hadn’t said a single word the whole time, cleared her throat. “Like, I don’t know this Katya person, she sounds great, or whatever. It’s cool if they care about her so much.” She pushed her chin in the direction of Violet and Craig, her droopy eyes almost closing at the motion. “And I mean no disrespect, but we care about _you_. You are running yourself down, stretching thin over someone you barely know. I just don’t get it.”

Trixie wouldn’t expect her to, she wouldn’t expect anybody to understand what she was feeling; mostly because she was yet to understand the whole situation herself. She knew she cared about Katya a great deal. She knew she had feelings for her, stronger feelings than she had held for anybody else in her life. But she had decided to put all of that aside, she had promised herself to leave behind whatever they had shared for a moment and move on. Things hadn’t worked out that way, she was forced to add yet one more layer of complexity to their relationship.

Shea’s voice, once again, came out as a soft whisper next to her. “This isn’t just about the case, is it?” There was a hint of doubt in her tone, of disbelief. 

She didn’t want to answer. Trixie couldn’t lie to her friend but didn’t really know what the truth was either. She was left sitting there, looking stupid, with her mouth slightly opened. Her lips parted in hopes that the right words would arrange in the correct order and pronounce themselves. Thing that didn’t happen. She could feel the stares of all the people crowding the small living room. Drops of sweat felt cold as they ran down her hot neck. It was all too much. Without even thinking about it, Trixie was suddenly standing up. Her eyes travelled to see the confused faces of her friends, infuriating her even more.

“You know what?” Her hand opened, fingers fanning out in front of herself. “This is none of your business. Like, thank you for caring, really, but… this is something that I have to do, okay? And if I need to spend my days at the precinct, and my nights at the hospital, so be it.”

As soon as she walked away from the carpeted living room, her heels sounded loudly against the tile floor. She had forgotten to take her shoes off when she walked in. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, what other little thing of her everyday life had she forgotten?

Before she could allow her brain to make a list of her flaws, her phone started ringing. She took it out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID. She turned around, finding Violet’s face. “It’s Jasmine.” She slid the green button and placed the phone to her ear. “Mattel.”

“Hey, Jush! We have good news!” Jasmine’s laughter sounded loud through the small speaker. “We got the plates of the car behind Katya’s building. You ain’t gonna believe who came up. No, ma’am.” She then provided the name of the owner of the car, but it didn’t ring any bells to Trixie. “You really that out of it, huh? Hold on. I’m sending you the info.”

“Thanks.” Trixie ended the call, and stared at the screen until a new bubble popped up. Her eyes grew wide opened as soon as the driver’s license loaded. “Kim, I need to borrow your car.” She looked up, just to find expecting expressions all around. “I have to talk to someone.”

Violet stood up. “We can take mine.”

“No, really, I need to do this myself. Trust me, please.”

No other word was said, and soon Trixie found herself driving through the I-10. Her blinkers were on since she didn’t have a siren, and her hand was stuck to the horn whenever a car wouldn’t move out of the way. She was there within minutes, parked in a red zone without a care, and ran inside the building. Trixie expected it to be empty, as she sped on the freeway her mind imagined the bare hallways, or even the front door locked forever. None of that happened. She made it through the poorly lit lobby, went up to the last floor, and found everything exactly the same way it had been a few weeks prior, when Katya and her met Manila Luzon for the first time.

The person she was looking for stood behind the tall desk, her hair had changed to an electric shade of orange, but it was still her. 

“Detox,” Trixie said in a shout, her index finger pointed at the receptionist as she stomped the short distance. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t arrest you, right here, right now.”

“Excuse me?” Genuine confusion took over Detox’s face, before a wave of recognition filled her features. “Oh! Detective, I didn’t recognize you without the Barbie doll fantasy. Look, I already told that detective, the one with the abs of steel, that Manila had no accomplice. I don’t know why you guys keep showing up, even after the trial has been closed. You are like the third person coming back and, honestly, I’ve had it with you guys, officially.” There was annoyance in her speech, her hands’ gestures made it clear she wasn’t joking.

“That case is closed and sealed, I came for you.”

“Ooh, kinky. Please, follow me, let’s talk in a more private place.”

“No, bitch! I’m not here to talk. I’m here to arrest you.”

Detox placed both hands on her hips, squaring her shoulders up, pushing her breasts even higher and closer together. “Under what charges? I haven’t done anything.”

“Okay, then tell me this is not your car.” Trixie tried to make a show of it, pull her phone out and reveal the picture right in front of the girl’s face, but it didn’t work. The device was locked, and she had to put in the code, then enter the gallery, before finding what she was looking for.

The receptionist seemed unbothered. She inspected her nails as she twisted her lips to the side. “My car got stolen last week.”

Finally finding the image, Trixie stretched her arm to show the car parked at the back door of Katya’s building. “There are no reports of it ever been stolen.”

“Sorry ‘bout it,” Detox said with a shrug. “Things have been crazy around here, since you arrested the head of the company. Thank you very much.”

“Your car was at the scene of a crime.”

Something resembling fear struck Detox, it lasted only for a second. She was back at her compose self right away. “Can we please arrange this in an office?”

Still not very convinced, Trixie followed her. The latex suit was bright, and the neon lighting made it shine even more. Despite the situation, Trixie’s eyes were glued to the marvelous body. Everything about Detox was mesmerizing, from the perfectly round butt, to the fleshy hips that accentuated the tiny waist– The observation was paused by a loud scream. Trixie turned in the direction of the sound. She was able to peek through a small space between two almost closed curtains, and saw a naked man in all fours. A girl stood behind him, connecting her pointy boot with his crotch repeatedly.

“Over here,” Detox directed her. She sat behind the old desk and pointed to the chair across from it. “Please.” 

The office was way smaller than Manila’s, and the decoration was more exotic than elegant. Trixie hadn’t known her for long, but that place screamed Detox, with the many accounting books, the different pens and the desktop computer painted with brivant colors.

“You better start talking,” Trixie demanded as she took a seat, her eyes still traveling around the small space.

A sigh escaped Detox. “Was it a murder?”

“I can’t discuss the details of the case with you.”

Detox folded her arms on top of her chest, pushing herself against the back of the chair. “Bitch, you gotta give me something. You are stepping into extremely dangerous territory here, and I don't want you to be involved in more than you have to. You are in too deep already.”

Pressing both her palms against the wooden desk, Trixie leaned forward. “Look, I’m not here for any of the weird sexual stuff you do in this place, okay? That’s your stupid business. I just wanna know who attacked my partner.”

“Oh, shit! The hot blond one?” Detox seemed to relax in her chair, her eyes softened.

Trixie nodded her head. “She was attacked in her apartment, and your car just happened to be casually parked outside of her building that night.”

“I’m telling you, it wasn’t me.”

“Then, who?” Trixie quickly asked, she was reaching the end of her patience. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down. She knew that was not the right approach with this girl. Katya had tried to tell her so, but Trixie was understanding it just now. “Look, she’s been unconscious for a week. They hurt her pretty bad. I just need to know if this is related to Manila’s arrest. I swear this has nothing to do with any of the other stuff that goes down in here. She… she’s my partner, Detox, my friend. And she’s been in that stupid hospital bed for days and there’s nothing I can do about it. At least help me catch whoever did this to her.”

There were a few beats of silence, Detox bit on her lower lip, processing the information. “Alright. Okay. But you have to promise me I have immunity. This hot body wouldn’t make it a day in jail.”

Trixie nodded. “I can’t make that deal myself, but if you cooperate, I promise you will remain as an anonymous source.”

That seemed to be good enough. “Kay. Well, my car technically wasn’t stolen. There’s this client, who’s been coming here forever, and the only one Madam Luzon was still taking care of herself. She came here one night and didn’t even end her session. She stormed out of the dungeon, all pissed, saying it wasn’t the same. Told me she wanted to drive around for a while and asked for my car, she never came back. Haven’t seen her or the car since then.”

“Why didn’t you report it?”

Detox shrugged one shoulder. “There was a lot of money transfered to me by PayPal that night. Figured it was some sort of payment for the car.”

Trixie shook her head, it was unbelievable how people used money to try and solve their issues just like that. “Where can I find this person?”

Long fingers hit the neon keys, as Detox kept her eyes on the screen. A card, with the intricate rose printed on the front, was taken from the holder to her right, and Detox scribbled something on the back of it. “Here, this is the billing address we have on file. You can probably find her there, or at least find more information.”

“And what’s her name?” Trixie asked taking the card, already pushing the chair back to stand up.

“Latrice, Latrice Royale.”


	9. Purple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thank you to the authors at the Artificial Queens discord server for helping me figure out the characters for this chapter.

**Chapter 9 - Purple.**

Katya was running.

She could feel the wet sand between her toes as she ran, the water splashing her shins. The salty wind hit her face as it danced with the breeze of the ocean. The sun above her sent merciless rays of light that warmed her skin and made her sweat. 

She was laughing. Katya felt the laughter bubbling at the pit of her stomach, travel up her ribcage, move past her throat and come out in the form of a scream. She looked up at the sky, there wasn’t a single cloud in sight. Her arms went up to her sides and she _spun_. ‘Round and ‘round she went and the laughter didn’t stop. In all her thirty-plus years of life she had never felt happier.

A few feet away, sitting on the hot sand under an umbrella, Trixie played the guitar. In her tight one piece bathing suit, she allowed her legs to be exposed to the tanning sun. Her feet were buried all the way up to her ankles, and her bent knees supported the instrument against her stomach. Her short nails moved rapidly up and down, as the other hand pressed down the right chords. Trixie’s hair was higher than ever, teased into messy curls that moved in sync with the mild wind. 

Katya stopped, her full attention was directed to the beautiful girl singing to her. Trixie’s eyes met Katya’s as her soft voice told her to take her time. That was a strange concept for her. Katya had never been one to ‘take her time’. She always needed to keep things moving, to be constantly on the go. She had taken enough time to heal already. As much as she loved this magical land she was immersed in, where there was no pain, no stress, no anxiety; she needed to return to the real world. She had loved the fantastic microcosmos she had created for herself, enjoying her time with no one else but Trixie, her singing, the sun and the ocean. She had to go back.

With firm steps she walked to Trixie, sat down next to her, and wrap an arm around her shoulders. Trixie was warm to the touch. Katya couldn’t help herself, and leaned to plant a kiss on Trixie’s cheek. Just before her lips could reach the purple blush, everything became blurry. Time stopped but simultaneously went faster. Their surroundings started spinning, and then Trixie was gone. Katya was left alone, pressing her knees against her chest as the world around her rapidly vanished.

That was when she heard the beeping sound again, it was still annoying as fuck. Trixie was still singing, Katya’s ears registered the voice, the soft notes of the guitar came later. 

Her eyelids felt heavy, and it took Katya several tries before she could open them. The taste of plastic was gone, the pressure in her throat was not there anymore, and her neck was finally responding. She was able to turn her head towards Trixie, who sat on the same chair as before, legs crossed under herself. Katya wanted to get her attention, but no sound would leave her mouth. She tried to call out Trixie’s name, managing nothing more than a heavy exhale to go past her lips. Same breath that went completely unnoticed, lost among the melodies created by Trixie’s fingers on the strings.

“Trix…”

Did she say it?

Did she scream it?

Did she whisper it?

Katya didn’t know, but Trixie’s hands stopped at once, letting the guitar fall carelessly to the floor. She stood up, not even bothered by the loud bang, or the damage on the instrument; and quickly moved to be by Katya’s side.

“Oh, my God! Katya! Katya, are you awake? Katya. Oh, my God.”

Had Trixie’s voice always been that high pitched?

Katya closed her eyes, trying to physically shield herself from Trixie’s loud screaming. 

“Oh, no, bitch, you are not leaving me again.” Trixie grabbed Katya by the shoulders, shaking her to stay awake. “Nurse!” If the constant movement wasn’t enough, Trixie decided to call out for help right next to Katya’s ear. “We need a doctor in here.”

From Katya’s side, Trixie pulled something that looked a lot like a remote control, and pressed every button as she screamed out for help. Katya wanted to ask her to calm down, to stop moving so fast and give her brain a minute to catch up with what was going on. Then, a thought hit her. A fainting memory suddenly reached her mind, scaring her to the core. She tried to get a hold of Trixie’s arm, who said so many things at once between her shouts for help.

“Trixie,” Katya whispered, finally being able to taste the name leaving her lips again. Her brain was still having issues connecting with the rest of her body. She did know that her mouth was not fully opened, her speech was not fully functional, but she had to ask something. “Tri-Trixie.”

“I’m here, I’m here. Oh, my God. You are awake. I can’t believe… Oh, my God.” Trixie was euphoric, she moved quickly from side to side, unsure of what to do. For a moment she just stopped, looked at Katya straight in the eye and smiled. “You are awake.”

There was nothing but genuine concern and tears gathering in her eyes. It was endearing, but Katya needed an answer. She tried to speak again, her throat hurt and air seemed to be lacking. “Trixie, did I… did I–“

Just when she was finding the strength to string enough words into a sentence, the door flew open. A doctor came rushing in, holding the stethoscope around her neck with both hands. She wasn’t even finished asking what was the emergency, when she noticed Katya’s wide eyes. A nurse entered right behind her, dressed in her purple scrubs, and big curly hair bouncing as she ran.

“Oh, girl, it was about time you joined the world of the living again.” The doctor had a teasing smile on her lips as she spoke, her hands moving rapidly around herself.

“She just woke up!” Trixie informed the doctor, still in the high pitch voice. “Alyssa, she’s been trying to say something.”

The nurse, who was checking the IV in Katya’s arm, was the one to reply. “Oh, no, baby girl. It’s still gonna take some time for you to get your voice back. Just take it easy, darling.”

Katya looked at the pair, then back at Trixie. She had addressed the doctor by her first name, which meant they had a certain level of comfort. Katya wondered if they knew each other from before, or if Trixie had spent so much time there that she had befriended the staff. She had that type of personality; it took her a while, but she ultimately would fit in every room she stepped in. Katya had to refocus, her thoughts were all over the place, it didn’t feel like the right time to investigate the nature of Trixie’s social skills. Her mind landed back in the reality of the present, where Trixie and ‘Alyssa’ discussed details of her waking up, and the nurse took information from the machine next to the bed and wrote it on Katya’s chart.

“Shangie, baby, give me my gloves. It’s time for Miss Thing here to get her shit together.” The doctor popped her tongue loudly as she took the latex gloves from the nurse’s hand. “Alright, Miss _Zamolodchihuahua_.” 

Trixie smiled and whispered a small ‘oh, my God’ under her breath but didn’t stop the doctor’s explanation. She simply moved to the side, allowing the physicians to do their job.

“I… am doctor Alyssa Edwards, here saving lives, as it is our Lord’s plan. Yes, _gawd_. This fine nurse is Shangela.” The young woman waved at the mention of her name. “And here’s the whole tea.” She moved to the side and flipped a switch, a board lit up where several X-Rays had been placed. “You were involved in a fight, and got pretty beat by that _beast_!” The last word was shouted, making Katya flinched at the sudden sound. “You see here?” The doctor pointed at the image of Katya’s ribcage with a pen. “These are broken, and these two are bruised pretty bad.” She moved to the next image, which showed Katya’s skull. “You were hit on the head, even when nothing major was damaged, you have been unconscious for almost ten days. Girl, you do know how to take a nap, huh?” She laughed and turned the switch back off, her tongue popping again for no apparent reason. “We will run some tests, just to see how everything is working under the hood, okay? But you are fine, girl. Healthy and strong, baby girl.”

A button was pressed, Katya could feel the bed moving and herself being pushed into a sitting position. 

“I need you to breath deep for me, Momma,” the nurse asked. “You were having trouble breathing before and we need to know how that’s going. Now, it’s gonna hurt, your ribs are still broken, but I need to check on them lungs, alright?”

Katya felt a wave of fear invading her. All the information was thrown at her and she wasn’t given any time to assimilate it. She had been on a fight, she remembered as much. But she also received a blow to the head, she had been out like a light for days, had broken ribs, wasn’t breathing. Her face probably showed how close to a panic attack she was, because Trixie quickly went around the bed and stood by her side, holding her hand with a reassuring smile.

“Hey, I’m here. They may be loud and annoying but Shangie has been taking amazing care of you all these days, and Alyssa… well, she’s alright.”

“Alright?!” Alyssa asked fully offended, despite Trixie’s laugh. “Excuse you, but I did not absolutely kill it at med school, and graduate top of my class, for you to say I’m _alright_.”

Nobody contradicted her, and Katya listened to whatever they asked her to do. The check up lasted way longer than Katya would have wanted. It felt like she spent hours being touched and pushed around, tubes were removed from several parts of her body, and needles went in and out without her permission. The mood was incredibly light as she was informed, between jokes and sarcastic remarks, how badly she had been injured and how long it was going to take for her to recover.

Trixie only stepped out once, with the excuse of calling Katya’s parents, who hadn’t been able to make the trip. Trixie promised them a video call as soon as things settled down and Katya had the strength to speak again. By the time she was back, Shangela was making the last adjustment to the medication dripping from the IV, and left the room almost immediately.

It felt unreal. Trixie had waited for this moment for days and, now that it was finally happening, she didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know how to act. She stared at Katya’s tired form, wrapped in the thin hospital sheet, and her head resting on the uncomfortable pillow. Still, Katya had a smile on her face. It wasn’t the open-mouthed one that showed all of her teeth, the one that was so undeniably Katya, but her lips were curved up at the corners. She was there, she was alive and awake. She hadn’t left her. 

Katya didn’t leave Trixie.

The first tear ran down unannounced. Trixie felt the solitary drop trickle down her cheek, it followed the wrinkles around her mouth and she tasted the salty liquid on her lips. Then a second tear came, then another, and another. Before she knew it, Trixie was crying inconsolably. She sobbed at the entrance of Katya’s room, overcome with emotions that she hadn’t given permission to fully settle.

Katya extended her arms as much as she could, her hands opened and closed, motioning Trixie to move closer. She did. Still crying, Trixie went to her with shaky steps, and sat on the bed. That wasn’t enough for Katya. With a slight pull of her clothes, she made Trixie lie down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Trixie felt the erratic rising and falling of Katya’s chest, she was silently crying; which only encouraged her to do the same. 

They held each other and cried for what felt like forever.

“I thought we…” Trixie stopped. That was not the time to generalized. Now, more than ever, she had clarity of what she felt, she needed to express her true feelings. “I thought I had lost you,” she confessed. “If I had lost you, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.” Katya’s eyes widened in shock, forcing Trixie to provide an explanation. “It was horrible, _horrible_, to see you just here, not moving or anything. It was as if someone had literally taken my heart out of my chest, tap danced on it, and flushed it down the toilet.”

Once again, Katya’s expressive eyes told her everything she needed to know. Katya was shocked, surprised, touched; and all of that was clear in the endless pools of emotions that were her pupils.

“Oh!” Trixie suddenly exclaimed, removing herself from Katya’s embrace and sitting up a little. “We caught her, Katya. We found the bitch that did this to you and locked. her. up.” She punctuated the last few words for emphasis, causing yet a fresh wave of tears to fall freely from Katya’s eyes. “I wasn’t going to let her walk, not after everything she did to you. Think again, Brenda.”

With the little strength she had left, Katya held Trixie’s face with both hands. Her throat felt itchy and scratchy as she tried to speak, nothing but grunting managed to leave her lips. She needed to do something to express the gratitude she was feeling, so she did the only thing that came to her mind. She kissed her. Katya closed her eyes and, taking advantage of the hold she had on Trixie’s face, pulled her to meet her lips. The first kiss almost didn’t register as such, just two sets of lips barely making contact. Yet, it worked as a gateway for everything they had been keeping, even to themselves, to come up to surface. That one peck led to an actual kiss, then lips were wrapping around each other, then tongues were exploring mouths, and hands were exploring bodies. It wasn’t until Katya yelped in pain, that they realized how far they had taken it. 

A soft laughter left Trixie as she rested her head against Katya’s forehead. Their eyes crossed as they tried to keep a hold on each other’s stare. 

“I love you.”

Katya heard her. The three words had been whispered, but they had been so loaded with emotion that there was no way Katya couldn’t have gotten the message. It took her a moment to react, Trixie looked at her expectantly, before she started to backtrack in fear.

“Look, listen, I… if it’s too much, I–”

The rest of the sentences died against Katya’s lips as she kissed Trixie again. Katya desperately nodded her head, unable to form words, but letting Trixie know she felt the same way. They kissed again, and again. They were happy to have found the courage to finally let their true feelings out, even if it was through a near death experience like this one. 

Still in a tangled mess of limbs, was that Ginger found them. “Ugh! Lesbianism.” The sarcastic remark lost impact as she practically ran to Katya’s side. She hugged her friend, cried out how much she had missed her and how grateful she was that Katya was okay.

Little did they know, that was how they were going to spend the next few days. Trixie slept with her on the bed, and they kissed every chance they had. Alyssa took Katya away for scans and X-Rays, changed the medication, and wrote things down on the chart. Visitors came and went, staying way after the allowed hours and annoying the hell out of Shangela. Trixie would laugh at the way she tried to kick Kasha and Tempest out of the nurse’s break room, woke up Kennedy from her nap on the lounge, reminded Roy he was not in charge at that hospital. 

Even when they hadn’t confirmed anything, people already treated Trixie and Katya as a couple. They asked Trixie how she was feeling, and how she was dealing with the whole situation. Katya received many comments about Trixie being by her side every night, and working tirelessly to catch the attacker during the day. They simply looked at each other from across the room, knowingly smiling to their friends’ words, and nodding when required. 

Slowly but surely Katya recovered her voice, the bruised ribs were all better, and the broken ones were well on their way to recovery. According to the doctor, it usually took one to two months for those to heal. Katya’s body, which had always been a scientific enigma, was pretty much ready to go by the beginning of week four. No major damage had been found, there was no amnesia or loss of mobility. Exactly a month after being rushed into the ER, Katya was being released. She said goodbye to the people who had literally saved her life as Trixie pushed the wheelchair through the hallways. She could walk just fine, but it was hospital policy. The staff was sad to see them leave; Trixie and Katya had become an important source of entertainment, but they were happy to know Katya was well enough to go home.

Trixie drove them to Katya’s apartment. Even when she had offered her place, Katya had insisted she was okay to go back to that space. Trixie had gone and cleaned the apartment many times in the last couple of days. She moved stuff around, then put them back where they belonged. She was constantly debating if she wanted Katya to come back to a fresh new place, with no memories of the attack hidden between the curtains, or if it was better for her to feel right at home. At the end, she had to settle with something in the middle, since a lot of the furniture had been taken away as evidence, and the cleaning alone left the apartment looking extremely different.

Katya walked with slow steps and stopped right before Trixie could put the key in the lock. 

“Hey, Trix?” She waited until she gained Trixie’s full attention to continue. “Did I shit myself?” she asked flatly.

“Wha-what?”

“Did I shit myself?” the words were repeated in the same tone.

Trixie didn’t know where that question came from, and surely showed as much in her facial features, because Katya’s shoulders dropped as she exhaled loudly. 

“When I was coming home that night, the night of the attack, I _really_ needed to use the bathroom. Like, I was shitting myself the whole way home. Then… then, it happened. When I was found, did I have shit all over myself?”

She didn’t mean to, but Trixie couldn’t help but laugh hysterically. She screamed in joyful surprise at how serious Katya was. Katya was really concerned about the matter, her straight face only fueled Trixie’s laughter even more, as wrong as it could be. It took several seconds of Trixie imitating a horn running out of batteries, before she could speak again, assuring Katya that no, she hadn’t shit herself during the fight. Katya visibly relaxed her whole body, sighing with relief. That was when Trixie decided not to tease her any more and helped her in.

Katya drank it all in with her eyes. She noticed right away the missing decoration, the couches that faced a different direction, the dinner table that had been removed. None of that really mattered, the only thing - the only person, she needed to feel safe, to feel at home, was holding her by the elbow and directing her to the bedroom, rambling on and on about what they were going to find in the next room.

“Alyssa said you needed some rest, so I came earlier and did your bed; washed the sheets and everything. You said you wanted to get ready for the sergeant's exam, so I got you some tests examples and practice sheets. I also put some books on the nightstand, in case you wanted to read, and moved the TV from the living room. Now, I know you don’t like–”

Katya stared at her with a smile, making Trixie uncomfortable enough to stop talking.

“What?” Trixie asked with a shaky voice. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Katya said, shaking her head, the maniac smile still nailed to her lips. “I swear it’s nothing, I… I just love you.”

Trixie’s jaw dropped dramatically. This was the first time Katya actually pronounced the words. They entered through Trixie’s ears, bounced against the walls of her brain, travelled down past her heart, and settled somewhere hot between her legs.

“I love you, too,” Trixie replied, but Katya shook her head.

“Okay, listen. I don’t do feelings, okay? But I do want to let this out.”

Trixie restarted the movement and didn’t say anything. They both sat on the edge of the bed, Katya wincing slightly at the pain. 

“Go on,” Trixie encouraged her.

With a deep sigh, Katya did. “I’m not an emotional person, feelings just… _ugh_.” She made a disgust face to portray what she couldn’t put into words. “It’s not easy for me to say it. I’ve only said ‘I love you’ to my mom, my dad, and a lizard that I burnt.”

“Oh, wow,” Trixie exclaimed. “Did you kill it? How did you burn it?”

“With fire, but that’s beyond the point. Shut up.” Katya tried to flail her hands, pain stopped her from expressing herself like she usually did. “I’m a very direct person. I have no issues walking up to a person, look at them straight in the eye, and say: I am very attracted to you right now, and would like for us to have sexual intercourse, if you are so inclined; and then we can never talk to each other, ever again.”

Her speech was interrupted by Trixie’s laughter. “Casual sex has never been more formal.”

“Hey, I’m serious.” Katya’s statement contradicted itself when she pronounced the words between giggles. “I never stick around after I stick it in.”

“Oh, my God! You better have a point at the end of all of this.”

“I would reach it, if only you’d stop interrupting me.” Trixie lifted her hands in surrender, and motioned for her to continue. “Fuck, all I’m trying to say is that I love you, okay? Like, I really do love you. I feel it in all my rotten, broken bones. I’ve loved you since the night that I saw you crying at the bar, chugging a whole bottle of beer. I was just too disconnected with my emotions to even know it myself. It was easier to pretend I only wanted your hot body, which I still do, by the way, but I also want the rest of you, all of you.”

Trixie bit her lip, maybe trying not to cry, maybe preventing a smile from spreading all over her face, probably just stopping herself from interrupting. 

“It means a lot to hear you say that,” she finally admitted. “For the longest time, I thought I was just obsessed with the beautiful girl that wanted nothing to do with me. Truth is, you awoke something in me, and I wouldn’t believe it. I couldn’t be gay. I’ve never felt attracted to any other girl before, but all I could think about was you, and kissing you, and touching you. I guess I settled with being _Katya-sexual_.”

She said it so easily, with the shrug of a shoulder, that it caused laughter to emanate from Katya in the form of a whistle-like sound.

Chuckling herself, Trixie continued, barely able to keep a straight face. “I mean it. Very quickly I realized I didn’t want to be with anybody else, boy, girl, or anything in between. I guess I knew my fate was to be with you.”

Katya leaned in and found Trixie’s lips again. They shared a sweet kiss to seal their love confessions, with unspoken promises of honesty and loyalty. A kiss that intensified as feelings and emotions finally ran freely. It continued until lungs cried out for air and the only option was to separate.

“Are you tired?” Trixie asked concerned. “How are you feeling about this whole thing?”

“I-I don’t know. I’m still trying to digest everything, I suppose. This was probably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I am a trained fighter, Trixie. Not only because I’m part of the Los Angeles Police Department, but, did you know I did martial arts for ten years?” Trixie shook her head, shock written all over her face. “Yes, bitch,” Katya assured her, even when Trixie wasn’t doubting it. “My dad is a karate master. He’s, like, fifth degree black belt. He taught me, from a really young age, when I used to be bullied at school, how to defend myself. Never to start a fight,” she added quickly, a finger up in front of herself for clarification. “But he trained me to defend myself, and I failed him.”

“No, you didn’t!” Trixie’s answer came out a little too quick. “Girl, you should have seen that Latrice bitch. Her face was–”

“Is that her name?” Katya interrupted with a whisper.

Just then did Trixie realize what she had done. She looked down and nodded. “Latrice Royale, she was one of Manila’s clients who didn’t take the arrest all that well.”

“I’ll say,” Katya added with a twist of her lips.

Trixie’s hand went up to caress Katya’s face, her fingers ghosted over the purple bruises on Katya’s temple. “We don’t need to talk about her. She’s away and won’t be able to hurt you anymore.” She stood up and offered Katya her hand. “Detective Zamo, would you allow me to take you to bed?”

Even against herself, and the pain on her side, Katya laughed and took Trixie’s hand. “Jesus Christ, Detective Mattel, I thought you would never ask.”

As she dropped Katya softly on the pillows, Trixie froze. “Oh, God. You know when you said that to me before?” Trixie said a bit nervous.

Katya simply nodded. “Yeah, when you asked to sit on my face.”

Trixie hid her face in her hands as she muffled a string of curse words.

Once again, Katya laughed, pulling Trixie to lay next to her. “Hey, it’s fine. You can do that again right now, you know? Like, I may not be able to move much, but my tongue is surely working.”

Trixie giggled like a little girl, pressing her face against Katya’s arm. “Oh, my God. Shut up!” 

They laughed some more before they fell into a comfortable silence. Trixie ran her fingers up and down Katya’s arm, soothing the skin around the cuts and scrapes. A wave of emotions hit her again. There probably would never be a time when she wouldn’t be thankful that Katya made it. Trixie didn’t believe in God, or karma, or the healing powers of _good vibes_, but she wanted to thank something, or someone for allowing Katya to be there, alive and well. She should probably send a bottle of wine to the doctor; and a promise to the universe to never take what she had for granted.

Immersed in that state of gratitude is that a thought reached her mind. “Hey, while you were, umm, asleep,” Trixie paused, doubting if that was the right wording for what Katya went through. “Did you, like, dream or something? Or was it, like, you blinked and suddenly ten years have passed?”

“Oh, it was amazing!” Her voice filled with excitement as Katya explained. “I could be wherever I wanted. Sometimes we were strolling down Vermont Street, you know, just looking at all the shops. Other times, we met at a beach somewhere–”

“We?”

“Com’ere, Momma.” Since she couldn’t really move, Katya pulled Trixie to prop on one elbow, so they could be face to face. “You were always there with me. I could feel you, I knew you were there. I couldn’t always understand what you were saying, but your voice was always there. I heard you singing, telling me stories. For some reason I remember something about you using Gatorade as lube?”

Trixie screamed. “No! That was my roommate. I can’t believe you were listening to all of that. I felt so stupid talking to myself all the time.”

“Oh, no! Hearing you speak was the only thing keeping me from going towards the light. Well, there was no light, really, but, like, you know what I mean.” An unexpected yawn left her lips, she tried to stop it by closing her mouth, but still her tiredness made it through.

Pulling the sheet to cover them both, Trixie kissed Katya’s cheek. “Go to sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

“No, I’m fine. Hey, let’s take a look at those practice tests you were talking about.”

“Girl, no. There’s plenty of time for that. Why don’t you take a nap and then we check those over dinner tonight?”

Katya nodded, her eyes already closing as she curled up next to Trixie. “Would you talk to me as I fall asleep? Tell me about that roommate of yours.”

Trixie did as Katya requested. She repeated the story and watched Katya drift off to a peaceful sleep, wondering if Katya knew there was very little Trixie wouldn’t do for her.


	10. Silver and Gold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As we reached the end of this story, I want to thank everybody who gave me and this ten chapters a chance, who took their time to read and comment but, most of all, for making me feel welcomed as a new writer.  
Above all, I want to give a massive shout out to the person who, pretty much, made this all possible, to the Trixie to my Paula. Huge thank you to the most encouraging human being who one day randomly messaged me, offering to beta my stories, and surely regrets that decision by this point. [Bernice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fauxbernice/pseuds/fauxbernice%22), I don’t know what I would do without you taking three days to reply to my million text message, you are the reason why I broke my no double texting rule, and the responsible for this story even making sense. You deserve all the cookies, my friend.  
Once again, thank you so much for reading, guys, and please, enjoy this amazing mood board that [Roza](https://leljaaa.tumblr.com/%22) created for this final chapter!  
[](https://ibb.co/r0kVr4j)  
Love,  
Monkey.

**Chapter 10 - Silver and Gold.**

The music was loud.

More than hear it, Trixie could feel it.

She felt as if her body were moving in slow motion. Her vision was clouded by the intermittent lights; they went on and off, following the rhythm of an electronic beat. Her arms went up in the air and she let the music take over her movements. She didn’t want to think about it, she didn’t want to have control, she simply wanted to be, to let go. 

Her hips went side to side, clad in the restrictive skirt. It was way too tight, it dug into her waist, but it showed off her round ass, that alone was worth the pain. 

Her feet hurt, she could feel the blisters forming at the back of her ankles, even when she put bandaids to protect the thin skin. The new cowboy boots, with the silver glitter shining with the flashes coming from the ceiling, were definitely worth the pain.

Kim moved closer to her, stumbled with her own feet in a very unmistakably Kimberly fashion. She shouted something into Trixie’s ear, something that she paid no attention to. The loud music gave her enough of an excuse for Trixie to shake her head, letting Kim know her message hadn’t been received. Her friend waved a hand and rolled her eyes, dismissing the entire interaction and walking away. 

Trixie stayed there, feeling hot bodies pressing against hers in the crowded dance floor. She could feel sweat trailing down her spine, wetting her blouse and pooling at her lower back. It was gross, but she didn’t care. She was enjoying herself too much, she was immersed in a blissful state of happiness; and she was sure nothing could bring her down from her cloud. 

Music had always meant a lot to her, it was a safe place, a shelter from the real world. Electro-pop was certainly not her genre of choice, but it was more than sufficient to numb her mind and tire her body. Same body that reminded her she was not a teen anymore and needed a break just a few songs after. Syncing her steps to the loud noises that could barely be recognized as a beat, she made her way to the bar. That was when she saw her. The golden hair cover her face, but there was no doubt it was her. She was laughing. Erratically styled curls bounced as she bent over in laughter. One hand was pressed to her own stomach, and the other had a tight grip on the arm of the bartender.

“Hey, Bob,” Trixie said loud enough to interrupt the conversation. “Can I please have a vodka soda?” The next words were pronounced as she scanned the girl sitting on the tall stool. “And give this beautiful lady another one of whatever she’s drinking.”

The bartender smiled widely, his bright teeth in full display. “Vodka soda and cherry coke coming right up,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“Why, thank you for the drink, Barbie doll.”

Trixie turned around, facing the dance floor, and leaned against the bar. Her elbows pressed firmly on the sticky surface, doing her best effort to look flirty. “Sure,” she replied with the shrug of a shoulder. “Would that be enough to get you to go home with me tonight?”

The loud wheezing laughter, that Trixie had learned to love, barely sounded above the loud music. “With a body like that,” the girl said. Her eyes shamelessly traveled across every one of Trixie’s curves. “You don’t even have to buy me anything, I’m yours already.”

Underneath the many layers of heavy make-up, Trixie felt her cheeks growing hot, probably turning a deeper shade than her blush. “Damn right you are.”

The facade was no longer necessary, the playful moment was over as she leaned in and captured Katya’s lips. Trixie’s neck complained at the awkward position, but the addictive taste of cherry mixed with cigarettes, was most definitely worth the pain.

Lips crashed with each other as passion built up, mouths opened and tongues fought with each other. Trixie’s fingers tangled in the mane of unruly hair as she pressed Katya’s face closer to herself. Noses bumped and rubbed together as their heads moved side to side, the kiss intensifying by want and desire. For a moment, they were no longer in a crowded bar, with peering eyes drinking their inappropriate display of attention. There was only the two of them, hugging, and touching, and kissing. 

Before she realized, Trixie was already straddling Katya’s lap, breathing heavily into her neck.

“I want to fuck you so hard tonight,” Katya let out in a deep voice.

“Oh, wow,” Trixie exclaimed, her eyes opened widely in surprise, yet her thighs tried to press together involuntarily. “When you do, can you please wear this?”

Trixie’s hand ghosted over the metal pinned to Katya’s jacket. She traced the silver oval before moving her finger to outline the tiny replica of the City Hall, and finally pushed down the golden lettering, informing the badge belonged to a sergeant.

A naughty smirk took over Katya’s face. “Where would I pin it, though? Needles directly to the flesh is not really my kink, you know.”

Moving her lips to Katya’s ear, Trixie provided the answer, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “To the strap, of course.”

Katya laughed openly, freely, carelessly. “Now that’s a kink I support.”

“Alright, you kinky lesbians,” Bob interrupted them, placing their drinks in front of them. “Tone it down, would you?”

Katya pressed her hand against her chest in mocked offense. “Excuse me! I am bisexual!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Bob rolled his eyes, discrediting Katya’s words. “You know I’ve never been one for labels, but you are always talking about how gross men are. How do you want me to believe you are still attracted to them?”

“Don’t get me wrong, men are absolutely _awful_,” she drawled the last word with disgust, her tongue coming out for emphasis. “But I am unfortunately still extremely turned on by their ding-dongs, it-it’s complicated.”

Trixie felt a small pinch in her heart, the conversation was going in a direction she didn’t want to explore. She jumped off of Katya’s lap, excusing herself to use the restroom. She knew she wasn’t drunk, she had barely drank since they got there; but her head felt heavy, regardless. Her heart felt heavy too. She loved Katya, and she knew Katya loved her back. Yet, there was this eternal feeling of not being enough for her. It was a thought she had hosted basically since they met. Katya was a free spirit, Trixie had always known that, which made it hard to find a middle ground between what they both wanted. 

Love had different meanings for the two of them. Trixie would constantly compare her attachment to symbolic objects against Katya’s pragmatism. Trixie kept all the movie stubs from their nights out, and the take-out menus from their nights in. She kept them hidden in that special box under her bed, where she kept all her memories. She was still sure Katya didn’t keep anything, all those little details were probably just garbage to her that she disposed of without a care.

Trixie didn’t know that she would later find out, when they finally moved in together, that Katya had kept her underwear as a reminder of the first time they slept together. They were going to end up making love among boxes, and Trixie was going to propose as she came. For the time being, Trixie was going to make her way to the restroom, even without nature calling, just so she could have some time to breathe.

Katya’s eyes were glued to the swaying hips as she saw her girlfriend walk away. Her mind trying to figure out what she did right, either in this or any past lives, to deserve someone so amazing. She knew in her heart of hearts that she had found the right person for her. Nobody in the past had ever treated her like Trixie, and she was sure nobody would in the future. Life after Trixie was simply unimaginable. If she tried really, really hard, Katya could almost see a glimpse of what things would be like without the beautiful Barbie doll by her side. All she could see was emptiness.

Bob shook a hand in front of her face, breaking Katya out of her bubble. “Damn, girl. She’s really got you, huh?”

Like a pin to a balloon, Bob’s words caused Katya to physically deflate. Her whole body seemed to melt on top of the bar as she let out grunts of frustration.

“This is like out of this world madness, man! Have you seen how hot she is? Cause she is _hawt!_ And her brain, Bob, her brain!” Katya extended her arm, her hand squeezing the bartender’s forearm again. “She’s so fucking smart, and witty, and funny. You know how hard it is to be funny and beautiful at the same time? Oh! Oh! Lemme tell you. It’s virtually impossible.”

“I’d never seen you like this,” Bob stated the obvious. 

This time he was not the guy behind the counter that poured her drinks, he was a friend. He had been a shoulder for her to cry on whenever things went south, and also a person who celebrated her every success. Now, he was right by her side to see her fall in love, probably for the first time. Before she could say anything to him about it, Violet approached the bar asking for a refill on her drink.

“Come on,” she told Katya. “It’s time for your speech.”

Among complaints and groans of disgust, Katya allowed her friend to drag her to their usual booth. Trixie was already there, screaming more than laughing at something that Jasmine was saying. Another wave of literal adoration washed over Katya at the sight of her partner. Her knees buckled with the weight of her love for Trixie. Bob had been right, she had never felt like that before. She didn’t do _feelings_, because if she let them run freely, she would feel too much, too intensely. It was all new to her, she was learning to read the sensations invading her. It was annoying; but there was one feeling that she had no doubt what it meant, she loved Trixie, fully and completely.

It was scary, and Katya would later learn that her fear was unfounded; but before that she was going to get the biggest freak out of her life. In the middle of a hot, emotional, and passionate love making session, Trixie would ask her to marry her. Katya would quickly put her clothes back on, run away and throw her phone in a bush. She was going to disappear for two days, thinking and overanalyzing how that piece of paper would affect them. All of those worries were far in the future, for now, she only needed to enjoy the happiness and bliss of a new relationship.

Katya walked to Trixie with a sudden bounce in her step. She wrapped an arm around the small waist and kissed Trixie’s neck, which was the only place she could reach without high heels. She didn’t say anything, she simply listened to a story she couldn’t follow, but everybody was super engrossed in. Just like that, Trixie could hold the attention of the room. Even in the middle of the loud club.

“Okay, okay!” Trixie suddenly stopped the conversation, finally acknowledging Katya’s embrace and placing an arm around her shoulders. “I think it’s time to celebrate the real reason why we are here.” 

A voice at the back yelled something about getting wasted, but Trixie was so lost in Katya’s intense stare and big smile, that the stupid comment went unnoticed.

“I’ve never met anyone as amazing as you,” Trixie spoke directly to Katya. “Like, when I first met you, I saw this extremely beautiful girl, but could have never imagined you were also going to be so funny!” The room laughed, because it was a recurrent joke, disguised as a backhanded insult. Trixie would often comment on how Katya was too beautiful to have a sense of humor. “In my head, you were this girl who was sexy-sexy, with nothing behind it. Girl, did you shock me. For as long as I’ve known you, I never know what’s gonna come out of your mouth. The way your brain works, it just, like, I can’t even explain.” She paused for a moment, allowing people to react. “Another thing that I can’t possibly comprehend, but fully support though, is your obsession with tests.”

Katya laughed, nodding effusively. “Anything that will give me a result, I love!” She agreed out loud.

“Well,” Trixie continued. “The results are in and, honestly, I don’t think there’s anybody that deserves this promotion more than she does. Please, put your drinks up for Sergeant Zamolodchikova!”

With her hand up high, she leaned in and gave Katya a quick kiss on the lips, the music of the club working as background noise among the cheering and clapping of their coworkers. Their lips mirrored each other’s smile for a moment before they closed the gap and kissed again, and then another time. They laughed and giggled as chips and peanuts hit them, her friends whistling for them to stop.

“Now, you know I love you all rotten whores,” Katya said, faking seriousness. “But if you excuse me, I would like to take my girlfriend home and have a little celebration of our own.”

Trixie let out a yelp of surprise but took Katya’s offered hand anyway. “Fuck the police!” She yelled as she reached for her purse with her free hand and, before anybody could complaint, they were practically running towards the front door.

As soon as they were both inside the confinement of Katya’s old car, their hands found a way to tangle again, only letting go when the gearshift demanded so. Nobody said anything as they drove out of the parking lot, and the silence persisted as they entered the interstate. Trixie looked out the window, the LA hills passed quickly by her side. Only a few cars accompanied them at that time of the night. Trixie thought about all the people safe and sound inside their homes. They felt protected because of them, because of what they did, because of their hard work.

She turned to Katya, who rubbed her hand against the cushioned cover of the steering wheel. Her sole attention dedicated to the road ahead of them, her eyes trying to see beyond the bright lights of the cars going the opposite direction.

“If you could do anything in the world,” Trixie found herself asking. “What would your dream job be?”

The frown was evident on Katya’s features. She threw a quick glance in her direction, but rapidly returned her attention to the front. “What do you mean?”

“Yeah, if you weren’t a cop, what would you be doing?” Trixie reformed the question.

She had to think about it, Katya looked pensive for a minute or two. The gears inside her head turning slowly, trying to come up with the right answer.

“Wanna know what I think is the perfect job for me?” It was a rhetorical question, Trixie didn’t wait for Katya to reply, it was just a way to maintain the conversation going; a thing she had been in charge of for some time now. “A real estate agent,” she replied proudly. Her shoulders shrugged in excitement as her smile only grew wider.

The gagging sound coming from Katya, she had not expected. “Are you serious?”

“What?” she asked innocently. “It’s such a cool job.”

“My God, that’s revolting.”

Trixie screamed in genuine surprise. “Why are you being so rude? It’s a very important task.”

Katya pretended to throw up inside her mouth a couple of times. “It’s disgusting.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Trixie had no idea she felt so strongly about it, not until someone came and challenged her reasoning. That someone, out of all people, just happened to be Katya. “Meet people’s needs with huge major purchase… it’s important!”

Katya’s stern face dismissed Trixie’s arguments. “It’s boring.”

“Oh, okay, Miss Fun, what’s your perfect job?”

And then she saw it, Trixie noticed the smile taking over Katya’s entire face. It was the type that let her know Katya was about to reveal something, most likely a guilty pleasure. Whenever Katya talked about things she liked, which could very easily be frowned upon, she would smile in a rather wicked way. Because she _knew_; she was fully aware that her preferences were not normal, and she enjoyed that.

The naughty look was plastered all over Katya’s face as she shook her shoulders in excitement. “I’d probably be a hooker.”

“What?!” Trixie’s scream-like laughter sounded much louder inside the small space. “Okay, now I know you are not being serious.”

“I am,” Katya let out in a tiny voice, almost sounding guilty. Almost. Her smile was still open-mouthed and all teeth. “Just… having sex all the time and, on top of that, getting paid for it?! Ooh, Momma, tell me that’s not the dream!”

Trixie shook her head slightly, returning her eyes to the passing hills. “It’s not my dream.”

“I’m not saying I’m gonna do it,” Katya clarified. “It would be fun, though.” Awkward silence followed her words, which only encouraged her to keep on talking. “If it weren’t illegal, that is. I can’t do it while being an enforcer of the law. It wouldn’t be logical, now, would it? But, like, think about how...” She rambled for a few seconds, and Trixie didn’t say anything, she allowed her to keep shoving her foot even deeper inside her own mouth, until she couldn’t hold it anymore and laughed freely.

With a roll of her eyes, Trixie shook her head in disbelief again. “I’m so proud of you,” she let out without thinking about it.

Momentarily, Katya’s eyes were on her. It was a split second of Katya dedicating her a sweet smile, before concentrating on her driving again. “For not being a hooker? That’s nothing to be proud of, it could happen to all of us.”

“I mean it,” Trixie insisted. “You truly are incredible. You do so much, always work so hard. And I’m not only talking about the job, you are always making sure that your friends are okay, that your family doesn’t need anything. I feel lucky to have you. I’m going to miss you as my partner, but I’m happy to see you succeeding, you know?”

Trixie hadn’t noticed how much she missed Katya’s touch until a warm palm landed on her knee.

“Where is all this coming from?” Katya asked, noticing with the corner of her eye how Trixie shrugged. 

“Things are about to change. These silly conversations won’t happen as often. You are going to a different precinct, will have a whole team under your command, we won’t see each other as much–”

Probably for the first time since they met, Katya purposely interrupted Trixie. “What the fuck are you talking about?” She glanced in the direction of the passenger seat, confusion written all over her face. “Sure, things will be different, but we are still the same, that is not going to change.” The hand she had resting on Trixie’s knee caressed up and down her thigh, hopefully providing some reassurance. “You do believe me, right?”

Once again, Trixie’s shrugged one shoulder with a twist of her lips. “But, like, I won’t see you everyday, we won’t have the cold cases room. I know, I know. I’m being selfish and spoiled, and I really am super happy and proud of you. Just… I don’t know, guess I was just starting to get used to how things were, and everything is changing again.”

They had reached Katya’s building by then. She parked in her designated spot and turned the engine off. “You think I’m not freaking out about the change?” Katya turned on her seat to face Trixie completely. “Bitch, I don’t know how to boss people around. What if they screw up? It’s gonna be on me. What if I screw up? It’s gonna affect them as well. What if I don’t like them? Oh, God, what if they are _boring_?”

Just like that, the roles were reversed. Trixie suddenly became the one reassuring Katya there was nothing to worry about. “Then you will text me, and I’ll send you a stupid joke, and everything will be fine.”

Katya nodded, more to herself than agreeing with Trixie’s words. “Can you send me nudes, instead, though?”

Trixie’s jaw dropped in shock. “Oh, my God!” She chuckled softly as she reached for the door handle. “Why send you a picture when you can see it live and in full color?” With a sexy wink she exited the car, and Katya followed close behind with an exasperated grunt.

They kissed in the elevator, and against the cold door when they reached the apartment. Fingers detangled from locks of golden hair, only to unbutton shirts and pull zippers down once inside. They stumbled towards the bedroom in a mess of limbs; wet sounds of mouths on skin, and soft moaning, filled the hallways as they moved. It was a matter of minutes before they were both naked on the bed, hands caressing any exposed skin they could reach.

“Can I fuck you now?” Katya asked eagerly.

Trixie ran her hand up and down Katya’s side, her lips landing on her neck. “You can do with me as you please. This is your night.”

Katya’s legs kicked involuntarily in excitement. “Oh, good! ‘Cause I want to eat you out, and there’s your idea of the strap. Maybe you can sit on my face. I want to eat your ass too–”

“Oh, wow!”

“Too much? Nope. Just spitballing here.”

“Go put on the thing. Let me shower first, I know how much you like it clean.” 

Once again, the kinky wink, accompanied by the sexy smirk, told Katya that Trixie was game. They wasted no time. While Trixie was in the shower, Katya got all the toys they could possibly need. She couldn’t help but feel lucky, because it had been mere luck that she found Trixie. She could possibly thank God, or the universe, or whoever was in charge to make people meet. All she knew was that her path crossing with Trixie’s was something that she was thankful for, and she wanted to make sure Trixie knew how much she meant to her.

Her body felt warm, even as the cold wind hit her naked form, at the thought of all the things she wanted to do that night. Trixie’s body truly was a masterpiece, a wonderland she wanted to explore, to get lost in. And then, like a visual to materialize her very thoughts, the door of the bathroom was pulled open. Trixie’s perfectly sculpted body was revealed among a cloud of steam. It seemed like a scene from a movie. She released her long wavy hair from the tie, and shook her head side to side. Katya’s eyes followed her every move from her spot on the bed. The plastic attached to her hips representing perfectly just how turned on she was.

“C’mere, Momma,” she instructed, sinking deeper into the bed, and arranging the pillows around herself.

Trixie obeyed. Her skin was still damp from the shower, making her tingle as she took her rightful place on top of Katya. Each of her legs flanked Katya’s head, who immediately hooked her arms around her thighs. With a quick push, Katya had her palms flat on Trixie’s butt, and her mouth only millimeters away from Trixie’s core. 

“You are so hot, so, so hot,” Katya breathed into Trixie’s crotch. Her lips kissing around the spot where she wanted her the most. “Detective Mattel, I will now proceed to eat you out. You have the right to remain silent, but please don’t do it. Everything you say–”

Trixie threw her head back dramatically. “You are not doing the whole thing, are you?”

It took one slight thrust from her hips, before Trixie was fully sitting on Katya’s face. Katya’s skillful tongue ran against Trixie’s most sensitive spot, flicking it rapidly before sucking it inside her mouth. Both of Katya’s hands went up to caress Trixie’s chest. Her fingers worked Trixie’s nipples, who screeched at the feeling. Katya massaged the heavy breasts, meanwhile, her mouth took care of pleasuring her lower half. In the midst of loud moaning filling her ears, and Trixie’s want dripping from her chin, was that Katya reached her first orgasm of the night. Electroshocks cursed through her body, freezing her for a moment, as she exhaled loudly into Trixie’s core. There was no time to recover, she needed to feel Trixie coming while riding her face, and she was not there yet.

Lowering her hands, Katya directed Trixie’s hips to move faster, pushing them down against her mouth. Her tongue entered Trixie, causing her to yell in delight. As she kept going, harder and faster, warnings of an orgasm fell from Trixie’s lips like a mantra.

_I’m gonna cum._

_Don’t stop._

_I’m cumming._

_Oh._

_Katya._

_Don’t stop._

_I’m cumming._

Trixie allowed her whole weight to fall on top of Katya. She worried she was suffocating her, but her body was not responding. Her brain failed to connect to any limb, as much as she tried to indicate them to move. Katya licking her clean was not helping. She jumped as Katya triggered her overloaded senses. Just like she had promised, Trixie felt Katya’s finger probing in between her butt cheeks.

“Scoot forward,” Katya’s demanded more than requested, her voice muffled by Trixie’s soft thighs.

She did as she was told, lifting herself the best she could to allow Katya to slide out from underneath her.

“Have I told you how much I love your ass?” Katya’s question was pronounced as her hands caressed the object of her adoration.

Trixie couldn’t do anything other than pressing her face against the pillows. The new position only giving Katya better access. She allowed her fingers to knead the flesh of Trixie’s ass, she squeezed and released the buttcheeks before spreading them carefully. When the wet mouth finally made contact with her delicate skin, Trixie yelped, both in shock and pleasure. She didn’t really think Katya was talking seriously, but she wasn’t complaining. She pushed her hips back against Katya’s face, feeling the vibrations of Katya’s grunts of desire. The steady pace was kept for longer than Trixie could handle.

“Please, Katya, just put it in already.”

She didn’t need to say the words twice. Suddenly, Katya’s mouth lost contact with Trixie’s skin and hard plastic replaced it.

“Bitch, you better put that thing in the right hole!” Trixie warned as she looked over her shoulder. Nothing could have prepared her for the image she encountered, though. Just as requested, the silver badge was attached to the belt around Katya’s hips. She was kneeling, a hot mess of smudged eyeliner and mascara, yet looking regal as her fingers ran up and down the length of the toy. Her small, perky breasts looked particularly enticing with sweat covering them.

Trixie’s eyes closed by themselves when she was finally filled completely, the device going in the right entrance. Yet, Katya’s finger kept playing with her behind. Trixie’s face was pushed against the cushions repeatedly, huffs of hot air left her lips with each thrust. The noise of their bodies hitting together was amongst the sounds she liked the most. It was hot. Not even the most produced porn movie could come close to their love making. It became too much all at once. A sudden orgasm hit her when Katya decided to enter her roughly, a finger on her back opening, while the ribbed plastic pushed hard against a sensitive spot deep inside her. 

She heard herself screaming as flashes came from behind her closed eyelids. She bit the pillow in a useless attempt to stay quiet. Her body was physically shaking as she rode the waves of her climax. Katya pulled out, making her whimper at the loss of connection, and dropped herself next to Trixie. Nobody said anything, they simply let their panting to replace any words as they came down from their cloud.

Maybe it took a few seconds, minutes, hours, but it felt like forever before Trixie was able to recover her voice. She opened her eyes and stared at the side of Katya’s face, they only part she could see from her position. 

“Did you…?” Trixie left the question hanging in the air, hoping Katya could fill in the blanks.

With her eyes still closed, Katya smiled softly. “Oh, yeah.”

Trixie turned on her side, wrapping a leg around Katya’s. She placed a hand on Katya’s stomach and slowly slid it down. Her plans came to a halt when, instead of finding Katya’s center, she touched the sex toy, still wet with the results of her own orgasm. Her fingers wrapped around it, pumping a few times, absentmindedly. Katya’s hand followed suit, and they lazily jerked off the fake penis together.

The words that came out of her mouth next, didn’t ask Trixie’s brain permission to do so. “Do you miss it?”

Katya opened one eye, directing her stare towards Trixie’s exhausted face. “Miss what?”

“What you told Bob tonight. You said you were extremely turned on by boners and, well, I don’t have one. Do you miss it?”

The bed suddenly started shaking with Katya’s laughter. Her body bounced with the force of the wheezing laugh, pushing Trixie to drop her hand to the side. Katya seemed to notice the awkward moment, because she stopped at once. She sat up, her fingers rapidly unbuckling the strap and throwing it to the side. The badge still attached to it made a loud clashing sound as it hit the ground.

“No, I don’t miss it,” she assured Trixie as she climbed on top of her.

Even when her words had been reassuring, the nagging feeling still invaded Trixie. “I just… I’m sorry if I’m such a pillow princess. I… this is all so new to me. You know I had never been with any other girl before you, I don’t know what to do. It’s a lot easier to just let you take the lead. Sometimes I wonder if you even like–” A finger on top of her lips silenced her.

Katya dropped butterfly kisses across her face, down her chin, and on that specific spot on Trixie’s neck. “I don’t mind you being a bottom, because I like to top.”

“But I also wanna do things to you,” Trixie exhaled as Katya wrapped her lips around a nipple.

“You have no idea the things you do to me,” Katya promised. “I literally just came twice, just by eating you out.”

“No, you didn’t.” Trixie’s voice was laced with disbelief. 

“Why would I lie to you? Really, I enjoy giving you pleasure. Plus, I don’t want you to do anything you don’t like.”

“What does that even mean?”

A loud sigh escaped Katya, her chin dropping on the valley between Trixie’s breasts. “You made a face, the first time you went down on me. Like you didn’t like it.”

Trixie’s eyes widened. “Is that what it is? Bitch, that was months ago. Don’t you get it? Things have changed. You’ve changed me. Hey, come here.” Both her hands took hold of Katya’s face, forcing her to look at her straight in the eye. “I love you. I’m stupidly in love with you, and I want to make you happy, whatever you want that to mean. You need to understand that I’m discovering all of this as we go. We don’t have to do it now, but I would like to explore with you as much as possible.”

Unsure of how to reply, Katya stretched her neck and placed a kiss to Trixie’s lips. “Why don’t we rest for a bit and see what the next round brings us?”

“Whatever you want, Sergeant Zamo,” Trixie replied with a content smile.

“I like the ring of that.” Katya imitated the smile, her body relaxing instantly.

Trixie pulled the sheets to cover both of them, Katya still settled between her opened legs, her cheek resting on Trixie’s chest.

“I love you, too, by the way,” Katya suddenly added. “I know I don’t say it enough, but I do, I do love you. And I thank you for walking into my life from literally nowhere and changing it upside down.”

“Likewise.” Trixie closed her eyes, hugging Katya closer to her body. “Now, let’s take a nap. We need to recover for that second round, or is it third? God, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve come.”

“Welcome to lesbian sex,” Katya said proudly, her eyelids failing to stay opened. “We have been expecting you.”

“Why, thank you. It’s nice to be finally home,” Trixie replied between sleepy chuckles.

As she pronounced those words, Trixie realized how deeply they ran. She had finally found who she truly was, where she belonged, and the person she was meant to grow old with. It was quite a revelation yet, it surprisingly wasn’t scary; the complete opposite, there was a sudden peace invading Trixie like nothing she had experienced before.

“Hey.” She shook Katya a bit, bringing her out of her drowsy state. “Thank you.”

Katya smiled sweetly, stretched her neck and placed a soft kiss to Trixie’s lips. It was a tender gesture that meant she understood, she got it. Trixie was happy, content with the knowledge that home was not a place, but an emotion. It was the feeling of Katya’s arms around her, the discovery of a brand new family in the queerest precinct in _herstory_, but, most importantly, the ability to be her true self, fully and completely.

“It’s nice to be finally home.”

**The End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading the result of me binge watching Brooklyn Nine Nine and UNHhhh simultaneously (which ended up having absolutely nothing to do with b99)!  
Written:  
June 17th, 2019 - December 25th, 2019


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